"acid test" meaning in All languages combined

See acid test on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˌæsɪd ˈtɛst/ [General-American, Received-Pronunciation] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-acid test.wav [Southern-England] Forms: acid tests [plural]
Rhymes: -ɛst Etymology: From acid + test; sense 1 (“test involving the reaction of an acid with another chemical”) and sense 2 (“rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something”) refer to the use of nitric acid to test if a metal is gold; true gold is not affected by the acid. Sense 3 (“party based around the use and advocacy of the psychedelic drug LSD”) is a pun referencing the slang term acid (“LSD”). The original “acid test” parties were thrown by the Merry Pranksters group between 1965 and 1966 and advertised by the slogan “Can you pass the acid test?” Etymology templates: {{compound|en|acid|test|notext=1|type=exocentric}} acid + test, {{senseno|en|chemical test with acid}} sense 1, {{senseno|en|rigorous test, figuratively}} sense 2, {{senseno|en|LSD party|uc=1}} Sense 3 Head templates: {{en-noun}} acid test (plural acid tests)
  1. (chemistry) A test involving the reaction of an acid with another chemical. Derived forms: acid test ratio Related terms: trial by fire Translations (1. test involving the reaction of an acid with another chemical): prueba/probatura ácida [feminine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-acid_test-en-noun-en:chemical_test_with_acid Categories (other): Chemistry, English entries with incorrect language header, English exocentric compounds Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 46 8 45 Disambiguation of English exocentric compounds: 26 34 40 Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences Disambiguation of '1. test involving the reaction of an acid with another chemical': 88 6 6
  2. (figuratively) A rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something. Tags: figuratively Coordinate_terms: litmus test Translations (2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something): অগ্নিপরীক্ষা (ogniporikkha) [figuratively] (Bengali), 洗禮 /洗礼 (sai² lai⁵) (Chinese Cantonese), 決定性考驗 /决定性考验 (juédìngxìng kǎoyàn) (Chinese Mandarin), 洗禮 /洗礼 (xǐlǐ) (Chinese Mandarin), happotesti (Finnish), épreuve du feu [feminine] (French), épreuve par le feu [feminine] (French), Lackmustest (German), λυδία λίθος (lydía líthos) [feminine] (Greek), βάσανος (vásanos) [feminine] (Greek), promhadh an aigéid [masculine] (Irish), banco di prova [masculine] (Italian), гла́вно испиту́вање (glávno ispitúvanje) [neuter] (Macedonian), про́верка (próverka) [feminine] (Macedonian), probă de foc (Romanian), серьёзное испыта́ние (serʹjóznoje ispytánije) [neuter] (Russian), probatura/prueba del algodón [feminine] (Spanish), eldprov [neuter] (Swedish), stålbad [neuter] (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-acid_test-en-noun-en:rigorous_test__figuratively Categories (other): English exocentric compounds Disambiguation of English exocentric compounds: 26 34 40 Disambiguation of '2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something': 1 98 1
  3. (by extension, historical) In the 1960s, a party based around the use and advocacy of the psychedelic drug LSD (known in slang as acid). Tags: broadly, historical Translations (3. party based around the use and advocacy of the psychedelic drug LSD): happobileet [plural] (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-acid_test-en-noun-en:LSD_party Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English exocentric compounds, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Bengali translations, Terms with Cantonese translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Greek translations, Terms with Irish translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Macedonian translations, Terms with Mandarin translations, Terms with Romanian translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 46 8 45 Disambiguation of English exocentric compounds: 26 34 40 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 33 17 50 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 33 8 59 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 31 8 61 Disambiguation of Terms with Bengali translations: 25 20 56 Disambiguation of Terms with Cantonese translations: 25 20 56 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 25 20 56 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 28 16 56 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 25 20 56 Disambiguation of Terms with Greek translations: 36 13 51 Disambiguation of Terms with Irish translations: 23 18 60 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 26 15 59 Disambiguation of Terms with Macedonian translations: 25 20 56 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 29 15 56 Disambiguation of Terms with Romanian translations: 29 15 56 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 26 15 59 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 25 10 65 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 25 16 59 Disambiguation of '3. party based around the use and advocacy of the psychedelic drug LSD': 5 1 94

Inflected forms

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          "text": "\"Eggs, Parker,\" said Freddie solemnly, \"are the acid test!\" / \"Yes, sir?\" / \"If, on the morning after, you can tackle a poached egg, you are all right. If not not. And don't let anybody tell you otherwise.\"",
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          "text": "The acid test: will the British public abide by such stringent guidelines about where they should stand, walk or sit in our stations and on our trains, when they have been used to a turn-up-and-go railway where they enjoyed freedom having bought their ticket?",
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          "text": "The Iran war – barely mentioned during this visit for fear of eruptions – is an acid test.",
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          "text": "The Pranksters had just held an Acid Test at the Fillmore Auditorium, a big ballroom in the middle of one of San Francisco's big Negro slums, the Fillmore district. It was a wild night. Hundreds of heads and bohos from all over the Bay area turned out, zonked to the eyeballs.",
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
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    "English noun-noun compound nouns",
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    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛst",
    "Rhymes:English/ɛst/3 syllables",
    "Terms with Bengali translations",
    "Terms with Cantonese translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Greek translations",
    "Terms with Irish translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Macedonian translations",
    "Terms with Mandarin translations",
    "Terms with Romanian translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "acid test ratio"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "acid",
        "3": "test",
        "notext": "1",
        "type": "exocentric"
      },
      "expansion": "acid + test",
      "name": "compound"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "chemical test with acid"
      },
      "expansion": "sense 1",
      "name": "senseno"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "rigorous test, figuratively"
      },
      "expansion": "sense 2",
      "name": "senseno"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "LSD party",
        "uc": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Sense 3",
      "name": "senseno"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From acid + test; sense 1 (“test involving the reaction of an acid with another chemical”) and sense 2 (“rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something”) refer to the use of nitric acid to test if a metal is gold; true gold is not affected by the acid.\nSense 3 (“party based around the use and advocacy of the psychedelic drug LSD”) is a pun referencing the slang term acid (“LSD”). The original “acid test” parties were thrown by the Merry Pranksters group between 1965 and 1966 and advertised by the slogan “Can you pass the acid test?”",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "acid tests",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "acid test (plural acid tests)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "trial by fire"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Chemistry"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A test involving the reaction of an acid with another chemical."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "chemistry",
          "chemistry"
        ],
        [
          "test",
          "test#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "involving",
          "involve"
        ],
        [
          "reaction",
          "reaction#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "acid",
          "acid#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "chemical",
          "chemical#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chemistry) A test involving the reaction of an acid with another chemical."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:chemical test with acid"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "chemistry",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "litmus test"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              87,
              96
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1912 October, Louis Joseph Vance, “The Spy”, in The Destroying Angel, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, →OCLC, page 152:",
          "text": "[H]e reflected that few professional beauties could have stood, as this woman did, the acid test of that mercilessly brilliant morning.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              48,
              57
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1920 April 10 – August 28, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, chapter 1, in The Little Warrior [Jill the Reckless], New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 8 October 1920, →OCLC, section 1, pages 7–8:",
          "text": "\"Eggs, Parker,\" said Freddie solemnly, \"are the acid test!\" / \"Yes, sir?\" / \"If, on the morning after, you can tackle a poached egg, you are all right. If not not. And don't let anybody tell you otherwise.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              4,
              13
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2020 May 20, Stefanie Foster, “Comment: Safety First: Now More than Ever”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:",
          "text": "The acid test: will the British public abide by such stringent guidelines about where they should stand, walk or sit in our stations and on our trains, when they have been used to a turn-up-and-go railway where they enjoyed freedom having bought their ticket?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              22
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2021 July 7, Phil McNulty, “European Championship – Semi-final: England 2 – 1 Denmark”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 12 Apr 2023:",
          "text": "This was the acid test – at least before Sunday's final with formidable Italy – and they came up with the goods not only in the context of Euro 2020 but also in demonstrating their character and big match mentality.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              80,
              89
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2026 May 2, Simon Tisdall, “The king went to Washington to save Britain’s bacon. He may also have shown the US how to save itself”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:",
          "text": "The Iran war – barely mentioned during this visit for fear of eruptions – is an acid test.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "rigorous",
          "rigorous#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "appraisal",
          "appraisal#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "quality",
          "quality#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "worth",
          "worth#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) A rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:rigorous test, figuratively"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              32,
              41
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1968, Tom Wolfe, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →OCLC, page 253:",
          "text": "The Pranksters had just held an Acid Test at the Fillmore Auditorium, a big ballroom in the middle of one of San Francisco's big Negro slums, the Fillmore district. It was a wild night. Hundreds of heads and bohos from all over the Bay area turned out, zonked to the eyeballs.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In the 1960s, a party based around the use and advocacy of the psychedelic drug LSD (known in slang as acid)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "party",
          "party#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "based",
          "base#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "use",
          "use#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "advocacy",
          "advocacy"
        ],
        [
          "psychedelic",
          "psychedelic#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "drug",
          "drug#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "LSD",
          "LSD#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "acid",
          "acid#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(by extension, historical) In the 1960s, a party based around the use and advocacy of the psychedelic drug LSD (known in slang as acid)."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:LSD party"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly",
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-acid test.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4b/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-acid_test.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-acid_test.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌæsɪd ˈtɛst/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɛst"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "1. test involving the reaction of an acid with another chemical",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "prueba/probatura ácida"
    },
    {
      "code": "bn",
      "lang": "Bengali",
      "lang_code": "bn",
      "roman": "ogniporikkha",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "word": "অগ্নিপরীক্ষা"
    },
    {
      "code": "yue",
      "lang": "Chinese Cantonese",
      "lang_code": "yue",
      "roman": "sai² lai⁵",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "word": "洗禮 /洗礼"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "juédìngxìng kǎoyàn",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "word": "決定性考驗 /决定性考验"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "cmn",
      "roman": "xǐlǐ",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "word": "洗禮 /洗礼"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "word": "happotesti"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "épreuve du feu"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "épreuve par le feu"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "word": "Lackmustest"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "lang_code": "el",
      "roman": "lydía líthos",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "λυδία λίθος"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "lang_code": "el",
      "roman": "vásanos",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "βάσανος"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "lang_code": "ga",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "promhadh an aigéid"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "banco di prova"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "lang_code": "mk",
      "roman": "glávno ispitúvanje",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "гла́вно испиту́вање"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "lang_code": "mk",
      "roman": "próverka",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "про́верка"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "lang_code": "ro",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "word": "probă de foc"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "serʹjóznoje ispytánije",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "серьёзное испыта́ние"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "probatura/prueba del algodón"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "eldprov"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "2. rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "stålbad"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "3. party based around the use and advocacy of the psychedelic drug LSD",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "happobileet"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Merry Pranksters",
    "Penske Media Corporation",
    "Rolling Stone"
  ],
  "word": "acid test"
}

Download raw JSONL data for acid test meaning in All languages combined (11.0kB)

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  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "acid test",
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.