to add a barb
- phrasal verb
- Offensive
:
soltar una puya
- She often adds a barb to her feedback, making it sting more than necessary.
Examples
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During the debate, he couldn't resist adding a barb to his opponent's argument.
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Instead of staying neutral, he added a barb that soured the conversation.
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She always adds a barb to her compliments.
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Why did you add a barb during the meeting?
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During the debate, he couldn't resist adding a barb to his opponent's argument.
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Instead of staying neutral, he added a barb that soured the conversation.
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She often adds a barb to her feedback, making it sting more than necessary.
Synonyms
9
6.4
To make a short teasing or critical comment about someone
Antonyms
How Hurtful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'add' (include/utter additionally) combined with 'a barb' (a sharp, hurtful remark) yields 'to include/utter a sharp remark.' The definite article is semantically neutral here and the construction follows a common cross-linguistic pattern of adding an item, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will understand it.
Etymology
The phrase add a barb may come from the image of putting a sharp barb on an arrow or fish hook. Just as that sharp part makes the weapon hurt more, to add a barb means 'to put a hurtful remark' into what you say.