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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MORDANT

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pronounce MORDANT:

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connect this word to others:

Mordant wit tends to be the darkest kind of sarcastic: the biting, cutting, scathing, s_rd__ic kind. 

Can you recall that last synonym, s_rd__ic? More specifically, it means "bitter or mocking, with mean or faked humor."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)   

definition:

"Mordant" traces back through French to the Latin mordēre, "to bite or sting, or to cause pain."

We've used it for centuries to mean "mean, cutting, or critical in an especially sharp or dark way."

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "a mordant remark."

Other forms: 

The adverb is "mordantly," and the noun is "mordancy."

how to use it:

"Mordant" is a very formal word. It's semi-common: just rare enough to catch your reader's attention, but common enough to be easily understood. Pick it when you want to call extra attention to how something is sharp, bitter, and even sinister.

You might talk about people's mordant wit, jokes, comments, observations, portrayals, smiles, and laughter.

Although "mordant" isn't closely related to words like "morbid," "mortify," and "moribund," which all have something to do with death or dying, it sounds like it's related, and that similarity in sound has colored the way we understand and use the word. Mordant jokes are often dark: about death, dying, illness, and other serious matters.

examples:

"He turned his experience into this tight little book, mordantly funny from the first sentence: 'I have a good poker face because I am half dead inside.'"
 — Staff, The Economist, 10 May 2014

"[In a museum exhibit about Pompeii,] a joky picture of a skeleton with two wine jugs comments mordantly on the perils of booze."
   — Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, 25 March 2013

has this page helped you understand "mordant"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "mordant" without saying "keenly cutting" or "very dark."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Some dark article, show, poem, book, song, work of art, or other creation) is a mordant commentary on (some social issue or problem)."

Example 1: "More relevant than ever, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is a mordant commentary on the dangers of restricting women's agency."

Example 2: "Javier Perez’s blood red Carroña (2011) looks like it has fallen and smashed on the ground, with taxidermied crows pecking at the remains. Ms. Oldknow describes it as mordant commentary on the declining state of the traditional glass industry in Murano."
   — Alexandra Lange, New York Times, 12 March 2015




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for this month is "That's Not a Thing, That's Two Things."

I describe it; you name it! For example, if I give you "It's that thing where Steve Harvey hosts two groups competing as vassals in medieval Europe," then you give me "Family Feudalism." To see the answer, scroll to the bottom.

Try this today:

It’s that thing when a group of Royal Navy crewmen, driven to madness by a captain who constantly played heavily advertised compilation albums of popular songs, yeeted said captain into a small boat and left him adrift.

review this word:

1. Opposites of MORDANT include

A. KIND and LAUDATORY.
B. HEALTHY and SALUTARY.
C. DULL and SLOW-WITTED.

2. The Guardian described the artist David Shrigley as one "whose _____ humour is at best a mordant response to modern life."

A. dark
B. juvenile
C. highbrow




Answers to the review questions:
1. A
2. A

From the game:
That's Now That's What I Call Mutiny on the Bounty!


a final word:


I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


From my blog:
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A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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