Why are carboxylic acids more acidic than alcohols or phenols although all of them have hydrogen atom attached to a oxygen atom (-O-H)?

Explanation

The aliphatic carboxylic acids are stronger acids than alcohols and phenols . The differnce in the relative strength can be understood if we compare the resonance hybrids of carboxlate ion, alkoxide ion and phenoxide ion .

The electron charge on the carboxylate ion is more dispersed in comparisonn to the phenate ion since there are two electronegative oxygen atoms in caroxylate ion as compared to only one oxygen atom in phenoxide ion. In other words the carboxylate ion is relatively more stable as compared to phenate ion. thus release of `H^+` from carboxylic acid is comparatively or it behaves as a stronger acid than phenol .