CAUSTIC

burning or stinging

causing corrosion

/any chemical substance that burns or destroys living tissue

of a substance especially a strong acid

harsh or corrosive in tone

SYN - corrosive, erosive, vitriolic, acerb, acid, bitter, blistering, virulent

"caustic comments" - suggests a biting wit

"It was clear that some sort of caustic substance had interacted with the car's metal body to create such destruction and eating away."

"It wasn't until he had poured it over his arm and his skin was burning that he realized he had picked up not the beaker of water, but the one next to it which was filled with a highly potent caustic solution."

"His style was to follow a whole flowery passage of prose with a section of sharply contrasting caustic writing. The reader would slowly let his guard down and be pulled in and swept about in the first part and then at there most vulnerable and accessible moment he would slam a harsh and corrosive tone at them."

"He had hoped they could have a light congenial conversation but it was clear by the caustic tone of his words that this was not a shared hope."