How to Use mordant in a Sentence

mordant

adjective
Definition of mordantnext
Synonyms for mordantnext
  • The dark and mordant joke is, of course, that Trump finds those hateful traits admirable.
    — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 16 Dec. 2019
  • Solomon turned to him and, per usual, turned a little mordant.
    — August Brown, latimes.com, 7 Mar. 2018
  • In the largest show of his career, Boris Mikhailov casts a mordant eye over 60 years of Ukraine’s history.
    — Jason Farago, New York Times, 28 Oct. 2022
  • Once the witnesses and their agendas become part of the mix, mordant ironies grow thick and fast.
    — Tony Adler, Chicago Reader, 27 Feb. 2018
  • The bizarre opening is one of a small handful of touches of mordant humor.
    — David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Feb. 2023
  • It’s shot through with even more mordant humor than Cronenberg’s last film, Maps to the Stars.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 2 June 2022
  • There’s a whiff of mordant, socially aware wit to this setup.
    — Ty Burr, BostonGlobe.com, 10 July 2019
  • Soon, there’s a running list of suspects on the whiteboard in the staff room, along with mordant commentary.
    — Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 21 Oct. 2022
  • Part of DeLillo’s mordant jest of a book, and the fun of the wordplay, is that the adults are children, too — especially the niche academics.
    — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 2 Sep. 2022
  • Entwined with that reserve is a fierce charisma and a mordant sense of humor.
    — Alexis Soloski, New York Times, 15 Feb. 2024
  • In his latest cover, John Cuneo puts a mordant spin on the problem.
    — Françoise Mouly, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2021
  • Once, these ghastly people made for some mordant satire.
    — Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic, 11 Aug. 2019
  • Her mordant wit and insight into the darkest chambers of the human heart shaped me, first as a reader and then as a writer.
    — Hillel Italie, ajc, 11 Aug. 2022
  • To complex issues, Pescador brings deep insight and a mordant visual wit.
    — Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2021
  • The second episode ends with a mordant scene illustrating the dilemma.
    — Farhad Manjoo, New York Times, 27 Oct. 2019
  • In the giddy whirlwind of the film’s opening section, Bobby narrates his life with the mordant panache of Woody Allen at his most dryly amusing.
    — Ann Hornaday, Washington Post, 28 Sep. 2022
  • There is a wryness to many of these poems, and some contrive a mordant introspection.
    — Frank Wilson, Philly.com, 19 Feb. 2018
  • One of the sleeper hits out of Telluride was Foxtrot, a mordant look at the Israeli military that’s equal parts comedy and tragedy.
    — Richard Lawson, HWD, 6 Sep. 2017
  • Produced, like the paintings, in a crisp Pop style and annotated with mordant commentary, the guides amount to a take-away show on their own and are well worth spending time with.
    — Roberta Smith, Holland Cotter, Will Heinrich and Martha Schwendener, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2017
  • Like the artist’s larger body of work, the piece tackles difficult ideas with mordant humor and the detritus of everyday life.
    — Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2019
  • There is sadness here, sure, but there is also a deep appreciation for life and a mordant sense of humor.
    — Marya E. Gates, Vulture, 12 Oct. 2022
  • The answer can be found in the book’s evocative quotes, alternately mordant and macabre, many of which come from the photographer’s grandmother.
    — Devorah Lev-Tov Zoey Poll Caitie Kelly Devorah Lev-Tov Elinor Hitt Jinnie Lee, New York Times, 5 Oct. 2023
  • Her mordant social commentary is lodged between the glamorous fizz of Warhol and the tatty thrift store aesthetic of Mike Kelley.
    — Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 30 Nov. 2022
  • The film’s mordant joke lives on in the fact of Commander in Chief’s accidental presidency.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 12 Aug. 2020
  • Kafka, if translated well, as Michael Hofmann does, is so funny, and suits my mordant humor.
    — New York Times, 7 Aug. 2022
  • Come for the mordant wit, stay for the existential questions (and the really great descriptions of New York City real estate).
    — Vogue, 14 Dec. 2017
  • The Grammy winner was known for his keen observations and mordant humor.
    — Robert Hilburn, Los Angeles Times, 7 Apr. 2020
  • My tendency in such situations is to turn my role into shtick—I’m the wisecracking Daria, the mordant brunette, the one whose qualities will age well.
    — Jennifer Senior, The Atlantic, 9 Feb. 2022
  • But the depiction of a social order in which almost every participant is a gangster of some sort, and the mordant humor the movie finds in this, is Russian through and through.
    — Glenn Kenny, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2020
  • Johns’s entire body of work, to go by this elephantine show of more than 500 works, is akin to a trove of Nabokovian love letters — obscure and thwarted, but also punning, mordant, full of life.
    — Washington Post, 29 Sep. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mordant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: