sulphurous
/'sʌlfərəs/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Containing, resembling, or derived from sulfur: Pertaining to the chemical element sulfur (S), its compounds, or characteristics.
- Characterized by or resembling the burning of sulfur; hellish: Suggestive of the foul smell, heat, or infernal qualities associated with burning sulfur.
- Bitterly scathing; vitriolic: Used to describe language or criticism that is harsh, caustic, and filled with intense anger or malice.
Examples of Usage
- Adjective (Chemical/Composition):
- The sulphurous fumes from the volcano made breathing difficult.
- Sulphurous compounds are often responsible for the smell of rotten eggs.
- Adjective (Resembling Burning Sulfur):
- The air in the cave had a sulphurous, hellish odor.
- They described the battlefield as a sulphurous landscape.
- Adjective (Vitriolic Language):
- The critic launched a sulphurous attack on the author's new novel.
- Her sulphurous denunciation of the policy shocked the committee.
Advanced Usage
- "Sulphurous atmosphere": Can describe a physically oppressive, hot, and humid environment reminiscent of sulfurous gases, or a metaphorically tense and hostile situation.
- The sulphurous atmosphere in the meeting room was palpable after the accusation.
- "Sulphurous rhetoric": Denounces speech or writing that is exceptionally bitter and inflammatory.
- The debate was marked by sulphurous rhetoric from both sides.
Variants and Related Words
- Sulfurous: (Adjective) The preferred American English spelling of . All meanings are identical.
- Sulphureous (Adjective): An archaic or poetic variant meaning resembling or containing sulfur.
- Sulphur (Noun): The chemical element (S). (Spelled in American English).
- Sulphurous acid (Noun): The weak acid (H₂SO₃), a compound of sulfur.
Synonyms
- Chemical Sense: sulfurous, thionic.
- Hellish Sense: infernal, fiery, brimstone, stinking.
- Vitriolic Sense: acerbic, caustic, scathing, virulent, vitriolic, blistering.
Related Phrases
- To breathe fire and sulphur: An idiom meaning to speak with extreme anger and hostility.
- After the betrayal, he breathed fire and sulphur against his former allies.
Related Idioms
- A voice of sulphur: Describes a person who consistently uses harsh, critical, or malicious language.
- The columnist was known as a voice of sulphur in political circles.
Adjective
- characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
- the summer was sultry and oppressive
- the stifling atmosphere
- the sulfurous atmosphere preceding a thunderstorm
- harsh or corrosive in tone
- an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose
- a barrage of acid comments
- her acrid remarks make her many enemies
- bitter words
- blistering criticism
- caustic jokes about political assassination, talk-show hosts and medical ethics
- a sulfurous denunciation
- a vitriolic critique
- of or related to or containing sulfur or derived from sulfur