mordant

UK/ˈmɔːdn̩t/US/ˈmoɹd(ə)nt/

adjectiveC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans written

Mordant means sharply and bitingly critical. Mordant wit, a mordant observer, mordant humour.

It is admiring when used of wit and unpleasant when used of a person. A mordant in dyeing is a substance that bites the colour into the cloth, from the same root.

Definitions of mordant

1adjectivemordantSharply and bitingly critical.C2
“The mordant footnotes were the best part of the book.”

mordant is a quality.

Where it comes from

French mordant, biting, from Latin mordere, to bite, the root of morsel and remorse.

Proto-Indo-European
*(s)merd-
Latin
mordeō
French
mordant
English, today
mordant

From French mordant, from Latin mordeō. a doublet of mordent.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

mordant in the wild

Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and may require a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber.
Dye
A mordant or dye fixative is a substance used to set (in other words, bind) dyes on fabrics.
Mordant
Although mordants are still used, especially by small batch dyers, they have been largely displaced in industry by substantive dyes.
Mordant
A mordant is a substance used to bond dyes on to a material.
Mordant (disambiguation)
Phaeolus schweinitzii produces green, yellow, gold, or brown colors, depending on the material dyed and the mordant used.
Mushroom dye

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the mordeō family

morsel

mordant — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others

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