Mordacious , from the Latin word mordax , is an adjective that has several uses. The first meaning that can be found in the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) refers to that which is corrosive .
The corrosive, in turn, is something that corrodes : that is, that degrades, wears out or destroys . When the concept is applied to a person or their expressions, it is linked to being spicy or harmful .
For example: “The Italian singer was known for his biting comments on stage,” “The tennis player was sanctioned for his biting criticism of the tournament authorities,” “In his new film, the American filmmaker offers a scathing look at the situation.” politics in his nation.”
Biting words and actions include a share of malice and are often witty. The objective is to express a criticism in an original way or, at least, avoiding the obvious or the direct.
Take the case of a footballer who, after arguing with his coach, is separated from the squad. In his team 's first game since the sanction was imposed, the team fell 4 to 0 . Faced with this situation, the punished athlete comments to journalists: “We have a great coach who, once again, showed his great reading of the game. Surely, thanks to your leadership, we will continue to achieve achievements.” Due to this irony, the press claims that the player was scathing and criticized the coach.
That someone is described as biting, in short, means that they have a tendency to express themselves in a harsh and sarcastic way. These people usually speak quietly, that is, from behind, or often unnecessarily criticize others using clever phrases.
The content of a biting phrase can be considered sour or malicious, and at this point we can easily differentiate it from constructive criticism, since it is not a comment that aims to help the other person change or improve, but rather a "stab" at the other person. getting even for a situation that was not very pleasant for the sender or simply for other issues, such as envy.
If we return to the example of the soccer player who talks about his coach's way of working with the media, we clearly see that his words come from the pain that being suspended caused him. In other words, it is very likely that if he had not suffered that humiliation after having discussed with his superior, his way of speaking about him would have been positive and flattering. This leads us to think that mordacity, that is, the quality of biting, is not always a characteristic constantly present in someone's personality .
Below we will see some of the synonyms that we can use in our speech to replace the term biting , which - it is worth clarifying - is not very common in everyday speech, but is reserved especially for literature and the media of communication. informative character: sarcastic, satirical, stinging, incisive, corrosive, ironic, malevolent and virulent . Among its antonyms we can highlight the following: delicate, sincere and benevolent .
In this list we do find some words that we can use in popular language, such as being sarcastic and ironic , although their meanings are not always well defined. Ironic is someone who makes fun in a subtle and subtle way, through comments that seem to indicate just the opposite of their true intention. Someone who is sarcastic uses irony, cruel mockery, to mistreat or offend someone or to make fun of something. In any case, we can appreciate the ingenuity put at the service of verbal aggression through indirect communication.