as in satiric
marked by the use of wit that is intended to cause hurt feelings
a mordant review of the movie that compared it to having one's teeth pulled for two hours
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Recent Examples of mordant
The Pornographer is a riposte to the banning of The Dark, a very mordant kind of revenge.
—
Sam Sacks, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
There’s mordant wit, too, in the fact that this woman’s liberation is wholly enabled by a man’s rash murder.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 9 Oct. 2024
Like much of the Coens’ work, these are tragedies tinged with mordant humor and punctuated by the bleakest twists of fate.
—Sezin Devi Keohler, EW.com, 29 Mar. 2025
The Pornographer is a riposte to the banning of The Dark, a very mordant kind of revenge.
—Sam Sacks, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mordant
Sam Sacks, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
There’s mordant wit, too, in the fact that this woman’s liberation is wholly enabled by a man’s rash murder.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 9 Oct. 2024
Like much of the Coens’ work, these are tragedies tinged with mordant humor and punctuated by the bleakest twists of fate.
—Sezin Devi Keohler, EW.com, 29 Mar. 2025
The Pornographer is a riposte to the banning of The Dark, a very mordant kind of revenge.
—Sam Sacks, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mordant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mordant
Adjective
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The poem is part love quest, part account of Italy’s battles; in places profoundly serious, in places satiric.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
11 June 2025
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Neither damning nor satiric, W. is oddly wistful, almost regretful — rare sentiments in a Stone film.—
Will Leitch,
Vulture,
17 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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His father, observing his children’s unconventional career choices, eventually developed his own sarcastic advice for parents.—
Omaid Homayun,
Forbes.com,
24 June 2025
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Idiotic rich boy Bertie Wooster gets himself into some kind of sticky situation with another rich idiot, and his quietly sarcastic, above-it-all, genius butler Jeeves inevitably gets him out of it.—
Brian Boone,
Vulture,
18 June 2025
Adjective
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The floors are done in chestnut-toned wood, with acid green carpets made from bamboo silk, while the VVIP suite has its own private sitting room.—
Samantha Conti,
Footwear News,
11 June 2025
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Fluoride also replaces minerals lost from teeth due to acid breakdown, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.—
Mary Kekatos,
ABC News,
3 June 2025
Adjective
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Rowling frequently posts acidic commentary about trans people, and very rarely about the upcoming Harry Potter series (oddly enough, Rowling still publishes crime fiction under her male pseudonym, Robert Galbraith).—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes.com,
30 June 2025
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Rainfall leaches elements that impart alkalinity, such as magnesium and calcium, out of the soil, rendering it acidic.—
Joshua Siskin,
Oc Register,
28 June 2025
Adjective
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The group of inmates escaped by yanking open a faulty cell door, removing a toilet, crawling through a hole in the wall behind it and scaling a barbed wire fence in the early morning hours.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
27 June 2025
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Louisiana Attorney General's Office via AP The group of inmates escaped by yanking open a faulty cell door, removing a toilet, crawling through a hole and scaling a barbed wire fence in the early morning hours when a lone guard left to get food.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
9 June 2025
Adjective
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Well, this was unexpected: a caustic and thorough indictment of Baby Boomer entitlement written by one of the Baby Boomers’ most important and original comic voices.—
Brian Boone,
Vulture,
18 June 2025
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But the comedic, opinionated political history with zany graphics, audience interaction, physical clowning, improvisational antics fueled by political outrage and one hilariously caustic line after another?—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
15 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mordant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mordant. Accessed 6 Jul. 2025.
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