astringently

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as·trin·gent

(ə-strĭn′jənt)

adj.

1. Medicine Tending to draw together or constrict tissues; styptic.

2. Sharp and penetrating; pungent or severe: astringent remarks.

A substance or preparation, such as alum, that draws together or constricts body tissues and is effective in stopping the flow of blood or other secretions.

[Latin astringēns, astringent-, present participle of astringere, to bind fast : ad-, ad- + stringere, to bind; see streig- in Indo-European roots.]

as·trin′gen·cy n.

as·trin′gent·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

References in periodicals archive ?

The senior Arab official astringently blasted these Jewish measures as an act of defiance of the entire international community and a breach of international law and relevant international legitimacy resolutions.

Arab League warns Jews not to break into Aqsa

An unpredictable and idiosyncratic take on the dysfunctional family drama, Jason Bateman's sophomore directorial effort is both astringently funny and poignant in its examination of the effects of unorthodox parenting.

The Family Fang

At some 800 pages, this book is far more generous, if less astringently insightful, than Robert O'Connell's 2014 Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman.

The hell General Sherman made

I'm astringently listening through imminence, through proto-immolation.

From General scatterings & comment

Looking at Carpeaux's sculptures, it is hard to forget that on the far side of their accommodations and facility was the possibility of an astringently sceptical confrontation with the dynamics of modern life.

Creative hunger: Anne Higonnet reports on a superb exhibition that returns Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux to the limelight

Justine's chapter moves from the reception speeches to a cluster of painful, astringently funny encounters among the various guests.