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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Caustic \Cau"stic\, noun [L. causticum (sc. medicamentum). See {Caustic}, adjective]
1. Any substance or means which, applied to animal or other organic tissue, burns, corrodes, or destroys it by chemical action; an escharotic.
2. (Optics) A caustic curve or caustic surface.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Caustic \Caus"tic\, Caustical \Caus"tic*al\, adjective [L. caustucs, Ge. ?, fr. ? to burn. Cf. {Calm}, {Ink}.]
1. Capable of destroying the texture of anything or eating away its substance by chemical action; burning; corrosive; searing.
2. Severe; satirical; sharp; as, a caustic remark.
{Caustic curve} (Optics), a curve to which the ray of light, reflected or refracted by another curve, are tangents, the reflecting or refracting curve and the luminous point being in one plane.
{Caustic lime}. See under {Lime}.
{Caustic potash}, {Caustic soda} (Chem.), the solid hydroxides potash, {KOH}, and soda, {NaOH}, or solutions of the same.
{Caustic silver}, nitrate of silver, lunar caustic.
{Caustic surface} (Optics), a surface to which rays reflected or refracted by another surface are tangents. Caustic curves and surfaces are called catacaustic when formed by reflection, and diacaustic when formed by refraction.
Syn: Stinging; cutting; pungent; searching.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
caustic
adjective
1: harsh or corrosive in tone; "an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose"; "a barrage of acid comments"; "her acrid remarks make her many enemies"; "bitter words"; "blistering criticism"; "caustic jokes about political assassination, talk-show hosts and medical ethics"; "a sulfurous denunciation" [syn: {acerb}, {acerbic}, {acid}, {acrid}, {bitter}, {blistering}, {sulfurous}, {sulphurous}, {venomous}, {virulent}, {vitriolic}]
2: of a substance, especially a strong acid; capable of destroying or eating away by chemical action [syn: {corrosive}, {erosive}, {vitriolic}]
noun: any chemical substance that burns or destroys living tissue
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
136 Moby Thesaurus words for "caustic": Rabelaisian, acerb, acerbate, acerbic, acid, acidic, acidulent, acidulous, acrid, acrimonious, actual cautery, acute, amaroidal, angry, antagonistic, antipathetic, arc, asperous, astringent, belligerent, biting, bitter, bitter as gall, bow, brand, brand iron, branding iron, brisk, burning, catacaustic, catenary, cauter, cauterant, cauterizer, cautery, choleric, circle, clashing, coarse, colliding, conchoid, conflicting, corroding, corrosive, crisp, critical, crook, curl, curve, cutting, cynical, despiteful, destructive, diacaustic, discontented, double-edged, dry, edged, electrocautery, ellipse, embittered, escharotic, feeling evil, festoon, fierce, full of hate, hard, harsh, hateful, hook, hostile, hot iron, hyperbola, incisive, ironic, irritating, keen, lituus, lunar caustic, malevolent, malicious, malignant, mordacious, mordant, moxa, nose-tickling, out of humor, out of sorts, out of temper, parabola, penetrating, piercing, piquant, pithy, poignant, potential cautery, pungent, quarrelsome, radium, rancorous, rankled, repugnant, resentful, resenting, rigorous, rough, salty, sarcastic, sardonic, satiric, scathing, scorching, set against, severe, sharp, sinus, sore, sour, spiteful, splenetic, stabbing, stewing, stinging, strident, stringent, succinct, tart, terse, tracery, trenchant, vehement, venomous, violent, virulent, vitriolic, withering
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