[From the testing of gold in nitric acid.]
(The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will—Times, 1918).The term is also used with an
(Fallujah is an acid test for the way the US deals with entrenched military resistance—news transcript, Australian English 2004 [Old English (up to 1150)C])and is occasionally qualified in some way
(It's a better time to put Kesey to the moral acid test—website, American English 2004 [Old English (up to 1150)C]).For other extensions of technical terms see the table at popularized technicalities.
| acid, accused, accusative | |
| acknowledgement, acoustic, acronym |
| Accumulated Postretirement Benefit Obligation (APBO), Accumulated Earnings (Profits) Tax, Accumulated Dividend | |
| Acknowledgment, Acquisition, Acquisition Cost |
A decisive trial to determine worth or quality, as in Exposure to brilliant sunlight is the acid test for showing this fabric won't fade. Alluding to a 19th-century chemical test for distinguishing gold from other metals, this term was used figuratively by the
early 1900s.