mordacity

English

Etymology

From Latin mordacitas. Compare French mordacité. See mordacious.

Noun

mordacity (usually uncountable, plural mordacities)

1. The quality of being mordacious; biting severity, or sarcastic quality.
   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     such things as have very thin parts , yet notwithstanding are without all acrirumony or mordacity