Vitriolic: meaning and SAT practice

Vitriolic (adjective) means: Extremely bitter, harsh, or caustic in tone or speech.

Vitriolic in a sentence

The critic's vitriolic review of the film was so mean that it seemed unnecessarily cruel.

Similar: caustic, scathing, bitter, harsh, acerbic. Opposite: kind, gentle, mild, sweet.

SAT-style practice: what does “vitriolic” most nearly mean?

The critic's vitriolic review of the film was so mean that it seemed unnecessarily cruel.

As used in the sentence, “vitriolic” most nearly means

  1. split
  2. caustic
  3. loyal
  4. nonreligious
Show the answer

Answer: B. “vitriolic” means: Extremely bitter, harsh, or caustic in tone or speech. “caustic” is the closest match in this sentence. The other choices are real SAT-level words, but none of them carries that meaning here.

On the digital SAT this is the “Words in Context” skill, about 7 of the 54 Reading and Writing questions. The test asks what a word means as used in the passage, so a word’s most common meaning is not always the answer. More of these, with full explanations, are on SAT Words in Context practice questions.

  • acrid: Having a bitter, unpleasant smell or taste.
  • astringent: Harsh or severe in taste, manner, or effect; causing contraction.
  • cacophonous: Making harsh, discordant, unpleasant sounds mixed together.
  • caustic: Chemically burning or severely critical and sarcastic.
  • inclement: Describing harsh or stormy weather conditions.
  • scathing: Severely critical or harshly condemning in tone.

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