biting

/baɪdɪŋ/

/ˈbaɪtɪŋ/

Anything biting is sharp and painful, like the biting wind off that rolls off a frozen lake on a blustery day.

A biting dog has the tendency, literally, to bite with its sharp teeth. A more common, figurative way to use this adjective is to mean either "painfully cold" or "cruel." So there's the biting cold of January in Minnesota, but there's also the biting remark of someone whose words are just as agonizing.

Definitions of biting

1. adjective

   causing a sharply painful or stinging sensation; used especially of cold
   “a biting wind”

   synonyms: bitter

   painful

   causing physical or psychological pain
2. adjective

   having a sharp, biting, or caustic quality, capable of wounding
   “a biting aphorism”

   synonyms: barbed, mordacious, nipping, pungent

   sarcastic

   expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds