Definition

1. 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

1. characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
   • the summer was sultry and oppressive
   • the stifling atmosphere
   • the sulfurous atmosphere preceding a thunderstorm
2. 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
3. of or related to or containing sulfur or derived from sulfur