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
-
While relapse of multiple myeloma is regarded as inevitable, the timing and severity vary widely.—
Anna Giorgi,
Verywell Health,
14 July 2025
-
But in the meantime, relatives could only guess the severity of the injury by observing the facial expressions of Nuggets personnel.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
13 July 2025
Noun
-
In addition, citizenship can be revoked if an individual commits certain actions, including treason, serving in a foreign military engaged in hostilities against the U.S., or renouncing citizenship.—
Christina Dugan Ramirez,
FOXNews.com,
14 July 2025
-
Advertisement Yet Indo-Pak relations haven’t always been defined by hostility alone.—
Sam Dalrymple,
Time,
14 July 2025
Noun
-
Despite that virulence, some forms of plague did ultimately die out.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
29 May 2025
-
While VUMs require more testing to establish their true risks to public health, VOIs are explicitly confirmed to have genetic changes that affect virus characteristics like transmissibility and virulence.—
Jack Knudson,
Discover Magazine,
9 June 2025
Noun
-
Horgan’s Eva Garvey is funny and nurturing and grounded but also quite lonely and bitter, a character whose love and bile hold Bad Sisters together.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
15 July 2025
-
The gallbladder helps your body store and use bile, a fluid produced by the liver and sent to the gut, where it is needed to digest fat.3 Gallstones block the flow of bile to the gut.—
Sohaib Imtiaz,
Verywell Health,
26 June 2025
Noun
-
Global banks aren’t necessarily acting out of malice.—
Wale Ayeni,
semafor.com,
14 July 2025
-
Beneath the inevitable finger-pointing and politicizing, there is often a genuine, even desperate, human impulse to find fault not out of malice, but out of mourning and a desire to find solutions.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
8 July 2025
Noun
-
Though Trump is backing away from Putin in public, he’s never specifically projected anger about the paused weapons for Ukraine.—
Burgess Everett,
semafor.com,
9 July 2025
-
His work showed that emotions like anger, fear, joy, and sadness appear on our faces in the same way across cultures.—
Dr. Diane Hamilton,
Forbes.com,
8 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mordancy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mordancy. Accessed 23 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share