VITRIOLIC

[Dr. Goodword]

• vitriolic •

Pronunciation: vit-ree-ah-lik • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. (Literally) Containing or similar to sulfuric acid or any of the metal sulfates. 2. (Figuratively) Extremely caustic, scathing, filled with rage and abasement often accompanied by profanity.

Notes: Today's Good Word comes from the noun vitriol which once was the name for metal sulfates including sulfuric (vitriolic) acid, hence the caustic flavor of its current meaning. To add sulfates to a compound is to vitriolate it. The spelling and pronunciation of this word are rather straightforward; just remember the accented O.

In Play: Few things can raise this kind of emotion more than money: "Their divorce was a long, bitter and vitriolic one because a large fortune was at stake." However, money is not the only thing that unleashes vitriol: "Jess Newcomb's vitriolic attack on his neighbor for playing loud music late at night was grossly disproportionate to the misdeed."

Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Latin vitreolus "of glass, like glass, glassy", the adjective of vitrum "glass". So, how did we get from "glass" to "vitriolic", you may wish to ask. For the answer to this question, we have to go back farther than glass. The original meaning of vitrum was "woad" (related to weed), a plant from which Romans derived blue dye. Since Roman glass had a bluish tint, the word for "woad" was used for glass. In the Germanic languages vitriol was borrowed to refer to acid, a glassy, transparent liquid; hence vitreolus had an appropriate sense. However, acid is also caustic and it is in that sense we use vitriolic today.

[Slava]

If anyone needs good examples of verbal vitriol, just go to any of the larger sites that accept commentary. IMdB.com and slate.com are good ones to look at. Some of the hate coming over the airwaves makes me feel that my computer screen will melt.