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Sunday July 11, 2004

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acrimony \AK-ruh-moh-nee\ , noun:
Bitter, harsh, or biting sharpness, as of language, disposition, or manners.

In years to come, liturgical infighting ranked alongside disputed patents, contested fortunes, and savage political feuds as a source of McCormick family acrimony.
-- Richard Norton Smith, The Colonel

The partnership eventually broke up in acrimony.
-- Henry Grunwald, One Man's America

As losses swelled, acrimony led to lawsuits, countersuits, and the bankruptcy of the ironworks.
-- Patricia O'Toole, Money & Morals in America

Mr. Cioran himself once wrote: "However much I have frequented the mystics, deep down I have always sided with the Devil; unable to equal him in power, I have tried to be worthy of him, at least, in insolence, acrimony, arbitrariness and caprice."
-- Eric Pace, "E. M. Cioran, 84, Novelist And Philosopher of Despair", New York Times, June 22, 1995

Acrimony is from Latin acrimonia, from acer, "sharp."

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for acrimony

 

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