Astringent

//əˈstɹɪn.d͡ʒənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A substance which draws tissue together, thus restricting the flow of blood.
  2. 2
    a drug that causes contraction of body tissues and canals wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Extremely sour, bitter.
  2. 2
    Sharp, caustic, severe.

    "Philip, who was made Duke of Edinburgh on the couple’s wedding, introduced a new, less stuffy, though as the years went on occasionally astringent, tone to the royal family."

  3. 3
    Causing a dry or puckering mouthfeel; characteristic of foods with high tannin content, such as certain kinds of berries and citrus fruits.
  4. 4
    Having the effect of drawing tissue together; styptic.
Adjective
  1. 1
    tending to draw together or constrict soft organic tissue wordnet
  2. 2
    sour or bitter in taste wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
acerbicacerbacerbacerbicacidacidulous

Example

More examples

"These grapes are fairly astringent, so they make my mouth pucker."

Etymology

From Latin adstringere (“to bind fast”), from ad (“toward”) + stringere (“bind, pull tight”). Compare stringent.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.