as in bitterness
biting sharpness of feeling or expression
the surprising mordancy with which the two physicians contested each other's claim to having discovered an effective vaccine for polio
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mordancy
But Lloyd’s version brims with mordancy.
—
Sarah Weinman, New York Times, 10 Feb. 2023
The gray-tint, cross-hatched drawings evoke George Cruikshank and Samuel Palmer, but the mordancy is vintage Sendak.
—The Week Staff, The Week, 17 Oct. 2022
Sarah Weinman, New York Times, 10 Feb. 2023
The gray-tint, cross-hatched drawings evoke George Cruikshank and Samuel Palmer, but the mordancy is vintage Sendak.
—The Week Staff, The Week, 17 Oct. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mordancy
Noun
-
First, because our common narrative framework depends on the past, many people still consider warming through a speculative lens, failing to recognize the severity, and urgency, of superstorms and sea-level rise.—
Heather Hansman,
The Atlantic,
22 Apr. 2025
-
Common cold symptoms: Vitamin C can help reduce the duration of the common cold and reduce the severity of its symptoms.—
Sara Hoffman, PharmD,
Verywell Health,
21 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
When expectant fathers face hostility or subtle exclusion at work, the consequences can extend beyond their own careers.—
Kim Elsesser,
Forbes.com,
21 Apr. 2025
-
Questions were raised over Putin’s motives in calling the brief halt to hostilities, which came just after the Trump administration threatened to abandon peace efforts without tangible signs of progress.—
Ivana Kottasová,
CNN Money,
21 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
In Canada, modest supply management policies keep farmgate and farmer pay prices higher, while disincentivizing the buildout of fast-paced, crowded and large scale production facilities at the heart of avian flu virulence.—
Errol Schweizer,
Forbes,
24 Mar. 2025
-
Everything about the movement surprised political observers: its virulence, its magnitude, its provincial origins, its apparent lack of structure and leadership, and its adamant refusal to be co-opted by existing political parties and unions.—
Arthur Goldhammer,
Foreign Affairs,
12 Dec. 2018
Noun
-
He was released from the hospital on Wednesday after being monitored for three days to ensure no bile was leaking into the bloodstream.—
Michael Russo,
New York Times,
28 Mar. 2025
-
Her symptoms include vomiting up clots of hair, bile and sewing pins; making scary pronouncements in a guttural voice that is not her own; and being unusually attractive to wasps, whose carcasses litter her bedclothes.—
Sarah Lyall,
New York Times,
5 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
This is not someone who is going to kill someone out of malice.—
Maureen Maher,
CBS News,
24 Apr. 2025
-
These steps are particularly important when installing extensions or apps from Google, given the much higher incidence of malice being reported over the past decade from its offerings.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
11 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
So, Joe comes in with a lot of hostility, a lot of anger, a lot of rage for what happened.—
Stephen Schaefer,
Boston Herald,
13 Apr. 2025
-
Aggression For some individuals, the turmoil following a breakup can give rise to an inexplicable burst of anger.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
13 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mordancy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mordancy. Accessed 1 May. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share