🇫🇷French Source WordCode: FR

mordant

Pronunciation / Transliteration: mɔʁ.dɑ̃

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Mordant/ˈmɔːr.dənt/
adjectivenounCEFR C2 (Proficient)Top #14500 frequency
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🇫🇷 Example Sentence in French:

"Son commentaire mordant a surpris toute l'assemblée."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As adjective
  1. 1

    Having or showing a sharp or critical quality; biting, caustic, or sarcastic in style or temperament.

    "The political cartoonist was famous for his mordant humor and unflinching satire."
As noun
  1. 1

    A substance, typically an inorganic oxide, that combines with a dye or stain and thereby fixes it in a material.

    "Alum is commonly used as a mordant in traditional plant dyeing to ensure the color remains fast."

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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Old French present participle of 'mordre' (to bite), originating from the Latin 'mordere'. Entering the English language in the late 16th century, the term initially referred to a substance used to fix dyes in textiles, before metaphorically expanding to describe a biting, sharply sarcastic wit.

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