Acrimonious means full of bitterness and angry feeling. An acrimonious divorce, acrimonious talks, an acrimonious split.
It belongs to disputes between people who were close, which is why divorce is its commonest companion. The Latin behind it means sharpness, from the same root as acrid.
1adjectiveacrimoniousFull of bitterness and angry feeling.
“After an acrimonious argument about money, the two business partners stopped speaking.”
acrimonious is a quality.
Latin acrimonia means pungency or sharpness, from acer, sharp.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂eḱ-
Latin
ācrimōnia
Middle French
acrimonie
English
acrimony
English, today
acrimonious
From acrimony + ous; compare French acrimonieux (“acrimonious”), from Latin ācrimōniōsus (“acrimonious”), from ācrimōnia (“pungency, sharpness; acrimony, austerity”) + -ōsus (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -went- or -wont- + -to-). Ācrimōnia is derived from Latin ācer (“sharp; bitter, sour”) (from Proto-Indo-European h₂eḱrós (“sharp”), from h₂eḱ- (“sharp”) + -rós) + Latin -mōnia (the feminine form of -mōnium, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -mō). acrimony Borrowed from Middle French acrimonie, from Latin ācrimōnia. From Middle French acrimonie, from Latin ācrimōnia (“sharpness, pungency”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA