How will you account for the acidic nature of carboxylic acid ?

Explanation

Acidic nature of carboxylic acids and phenols : Both acids and phenols are resonance stabilised. They release `H^+` ions easily to form carboxylate ions and phonoxide ions respectively as :

Resonance hybrid of phenoxide ion is :

In the hybrid of carboxylate ion, the negative charge is dispersed on two oxygen atoms and there is one oxygen atom to disperse negative charge in phenoxide ion. So, dispersal of negative charge is more on carboxylate ion than phenoxide ion. Ilence carboxylate ions are more stable than phenoxide ions. It leads to the conclusion that carboxylic acids are more acidic than phenols.