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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Example Sentences
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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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The finish is bright, pleasantly acidic, and long lasting.—
Mike DeSimone,
Robb Report,
12 June 2025
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The finished dish is bright, acidic, and perfectly seasoned.—
Sarah Martens,
Better Homes & Gardens,
9 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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Eleanor is played by Pippa Knowles with a playful, caustic vibrance that seizes the screen.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
10 June 2025
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For Chicago and spanning to borders far beyond, there was media personality Gary Deeb as the caustic gatekeeper of all things TV, radio and media reporting about what and who to watch and when and where to listen.—
Philip Potempa,
Chicago Tribune,
4 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mordant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mordant. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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