acrimony

familiar word / vague understanding of the meaning

Definition of acrimony: "bitterness and resentment, especially in speech, attitude, or tone." (answers.com)

Where I ran across it:
9/16/ 07 NY Times Sunday Arts online article "Is It Art Yet? And Who Decides?" by Roberta Smith.

“…I refer to Mass MoCA’s decision to exhibit “Training Ground for Democracy,” an immense but incomplete work of installation art, despite strenuous opposition from Christoph Büchel, the Swiss artist who conceived it and oversaw its construction until his relationship with the museum dissolved in acrimony early this year. By opening this show without his assent, the museum has broken faith with the artist, the public and art itself…”

My two cents:
The article concerns artist Christoph Büchel’s acrimonious (look ma, I'm using it in a sentence) relationship with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.