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Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--vitriolic This week's theme: words from chemistry. vitriolic (vi-tree-OL-ik) adjective Extremely caustic; bitterly scathing. [From Latin vitrum (glass).] Sulfuric acid, a highly corrosive substance, was formerly known as oil of vitriol or simply vitriol. It was named vitriol owing to the glassy appearance of its salts. Today's word in Visual Thesaurus. -Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org) "Unlike many other districts in Ventura County, Simi Valley has suffered a steady diet of noisy board meetings, vitriolic letters to the editor and name-calling directed at board members." Mack Reed; Simi Schools in Throes of Tumult, Hope; The Los Angeles Times; Jun 2, 1996. X-Bonus To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest. -Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948)

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