Word of the Day

: July 15, 2018

mercurial

adjective mer-KYUR-ee-ul

What It Means

1 : of, relating to, or born under the planet Mercury

2 : having the qualities of eloquence, ingenuity, or thievishness attributed to the god Mercury or to the influence of the planet Mercury

3 : characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood

4 : of, relating to, containing, or caused by mercury

mercurial in Context

"Uncle Chris felt a touch of embarrassment. It occurred to him that he had been betrayed by his mercurial temperament into an attitude which, considering the circumstances, was perhaps a trifle too jubilant." — P. G. Wodehouse, Jill the Reckless, 1921

"The result is a stylish, and at times mind-bending, re-imagining of the characters, with Batman trying to find a way back to his own time period while dealing with such foes as The Joker, Harley Quinn, Gorilla Grodd and Two-Face who run amok in increasingly outlandish ways, as well as the mercurial Catwoman." — Tim Clodfelter, The Winston-Salem (North Carolina) Journal, 10 May 2018

Did You Know?

The Roman god Mercury (Mercurius in Latin) was the messenger and herald of the gods and also the god of merchants and thieves (his counterpart in Greek mythology is Hermes). He was noted for his eloquence, swiftness, and cunning, and the Romans named what appeared to them to be the fastest-moving planet in his honor. The Latin adjective derived from his name, mercurialis, meaning "of or relating to Mercury," was borrowed into English in the 14th century as mercurial. Although the adjective initially meant "born under the planet Mercury," it came to mean "having qualities attributed to the god Mercury or the influence of the planet Mercury," and then "unpredictably changeable."