What's the difference between acerbic and sarcastic?

Acerbic


Definition:

  • (a.) Sour or severe.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Early on he wrote in a wide variety of outlets (including twice in the Guardian ), but his acerbic takes on the national security state have earned him a regular column at the paleocon mothership, the American Conservative.
  • (2) Lewis, 42, admitted he was "hugely embarrassed" after McKellen, 74, who plays the wizard Gandalf in the Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit films, responsed acerbically in the Radio Times.
  • (3) Scottish Ballet: The Nutcracker In recent years, Christmas at Scottish Ballet has been defined by Ashley Page’s witty, acerbic re-writes of the 19th century classics.
  • (4) In contrast, he returned to the mainstream in Robert Redford's factually based Quiz Show (1994), as the acerbic father to a fraudulent game-show contestant.
  • (5) Jess Phillips, Labour MP for the Birmingham Yardley, has already posted an acerbic tweet.
  • (6) He was a man of contradictions: he was a romantic, but also an acerbic and difficult character.
  • (7) Other work in the show recalls Soviet-era propaganda posters, and twists political slogans to acerbic effect.
  • (8) The acerbic correspondence of Jones and Briffa with Michael Mann of Penn State University , the chief creator of the hockey stick graph, is a central feature of the emails.
  • (9) The result is a show whose rapid-paced, ultra-acerbic dialogue is as funny as anything on television at the moment.
  • (10) And we will address it.” The Vermont senator urged attendees to “join me in this campaign to build a future that works for all of us, and not just the few on top.” Although the acerbic left-winger is a political veteran, this will be his first Democratic primary.
  • (11) Mark Gardner, Community Security Trust On Holocaust Memorial Day 2013, the Sunday Times ran a cartoon by its famously acerbic cartoonist, Gerald Scarfe, that depicts Binyamin Netanyahu using blood to cement a wall that he is building, that has parts of bodies trapped within it.
  • (12) His acerbic former adviser Dominic Cummings , long loathed by David Cameron (the feeling is mutual), is the campaign director.
  • (13) His acerbic wit and combative manner can ruffle feathers.
  • (14) The acerbic comments from the official Xinhua news agency come after Clinton, while on an official visit to Africa , appeared to question China's motives in the region.
  • (15) It received a warm reception in the House of Lords, though one peer commented acerbically that Adonis’s predecessor, Ruth Kelly, had just two years earlier called such a project “opportunistic, economically illiterate and hugely damaging to Britain’s national interests”.
  • (16) Angela Eagle The chair of the Labour national policy forum and shadow leader of the house has an acerbic wit capable of putting most Tory ministers on the back foot.
  • (17) Erdoğan’s acerbic response on Monday suggested the EU’s concerns were justified.
  • (18) Or rather, she was a sort of ultra-acerbic clown: an outlandishly dressed and painted pixie-harpy, who said whatever she liked.
  • (19) "As the wonderfully acerbic Anne Robinson said, 'The viewers don't want to watch ugly.'"
  • (20) The hashtag #Clapper on Twitter is filled with acerbic tweets mocking the "least untruthful" line.

Sarcastic


Definition:

  • (a.) Alt. of Sarcastical

Example Sentences:

  • (1) As Robert Vittek put Slovakia 5-1 ahead on 59 minutes, hundreds were heading for the exits while many of the remaining fans sarcastically cheered the most routine saves from their goalkeeper.
  • (2) Persepolis , the Greek name for Persia, is desperately moving and extremely funny - a little girl's sarcastic love letter to her family.
  • (3) "When you read the book, he sounds more sarcastic and snarky, closer to Holden Caulfield ," he says, "but with Dustin Hoffman it feels genuinely rabbit-in-the-headlights."
  • (4) Now, though, the staycationers are coming and the donkeys are less sarcastic.
  • (5) There's nothing defensive or snippy or sarcastic about his tone when he tells you that he can't act, or carries on as if his entire professional life is a kind of complicated mistake: he's actually rather charming company.
  • (6) "There's the side that wants to go along with it, but there's also a very sarcastic, sceptical side."
  • (7) They make sarcastic remarks about Reader being a so- called “master criminal”.
  • (8) "Here are the internet terrorists," their lawyer Rémy Josseaume sarcastically told the court in the southern town of Rodez on Tuesday.
  • (9) He does not have experience but he has potential.” Mourinho had a sarcastic comment for Fifa, after hearing that the governing body had made a statement about the on-going fallout from Mohamed Salah’s season-long loan move to Roma.
  • (10) It grinds us down until we adopt a worldview that is pessimistic, desensitised, sarcastic and fatalistic.
  • (11) From the opening lines of Vietnam, Grant's set was sad, funny, tortured, sarcastic and, frankly, pure bloody perfection.
  • (12) That match too had its moments – notably when the Serb made a sarcastic racket-slap in response to the crowd’s cheer for a double fault that led to a break in a sloppy second set.
  • (13) The Chelsea manager, José Mourinho , has been fined after his sarcastic appraisal of officials following the defeat by Sunderland.
  • (14) But what Clegg's rightwing and leftwing critics miss, as do predictably sarcastic journalists, is that this is precisely the point.
  • (15) Or as CBS Sports' Zach Harper sarcastically noted : "Can't wait for that nationally televised Heat-Bobcats game coming up."
  • (16) He said Christie laughed and made a sarcastic joke when he learned of Sokolich’s distress over not getting his calls returned.
  • (17) Countering that complaint Israel’s UN ambassador, Ron Prosor, sent what the Israeli mission called a “sarcastic letter” to the security council listing acts of incitement by the Palestinian leadership, including last month’s drive-by shooting of a Jewish activist who had pushed for greater Jewish access to the sacred hilltop compound.
  • (18) The Valencia reporter for Onda Cero radio called it a “lack of respect”, while in AS it was described sarcastically as “English humour”.
  • (19) Not only did it get a sarcastic jeer from the Tories, but it made Vince ratty.
  • (20) Here's where I should warn readers that I may sometimes be sarcastic.