pungency

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Caustic nature

Nouns

1. pungency, piquancy, poignancy, tang, raciness, haut goût, strong taste; sharpness, keenness, acrimony, acritude, acridity, astringency, acerbity, sourness, gaminess; tartness, spiciness, heat, acidity, causticity, bite, tang. Informal, zip, nip, punch, ginger. See odor, malodorousness.

2. mustard, cayenne, pepper, salt, brine, mace, onion, garlic, pickle, ginger, caviar; seasoning, spice, relish, condiment, catsup, curry, vinegar, sauce piquante; ammonia, smelling salts, niter. See food.

3. nicotine, tobacco, snuff, quid; cigarette, smoke, regular, king-size, long[-size], plain, oval, cork tip, filter tip, ioo; cigar, cheroot, stogie, panatela, perfecto, corona, belvedere; cigarillo; smokeless tobacco. Slang, coffin nail, cig, fag, butt, gasper, tube, weed, reefer, peewee, slim, square, cancer stick.

Verbs — be pungent, bite the tongue, sting; season, [be]spice, salt, pepper, pickle, curry, brine, devil; smoke, puff, chain smoke; chew, take snuff.

Adjectives — pungent, piquant, poignant, tangy, racy; sharp, keen, acrid, acerb, acrimonious, astringent, bitter; sour (see sourness); unsavory (see taste); gamy, high, strong, high- or full-flavored, high-tasted; biting, stinging, mordant, caustic, pyrotic, burning, acid; odiferous (see odor); piercing, pricking, penetrating, stimulating, appetizing; tart, spicy, spiced, seasoned, peppery, hot [as pepper]; salt[y], saline, brackish, briny; nutty, zesty. Informal, zippy, snappy.

Quotations — He who lives without tobacco is not worthy to live (Molière), What this country needs is a really good 5-cent cigar (Thomas Marshall), I smoked my first cigarette and kissed my first woman on the same day. I have never had time for tobacco since (Arturo Toscanini), A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke (RudyardKipling), I have never smoked in my life and look forward to a time when the world will look back in amazement and disgust to a practice so unnatural and disgusting (G. B. Shaw).

Antonyms, see insipidity, odorlessness.