Dictionary

mordacious en · ADJ

Etymology

From Latin mordax (“given to biting, corrosive”) (from mordere (“to bite, sting”)) + -ious.

Meanings

1. Biting, causing a physical bite or sting; corrosive
2. Sharp or caustic in style or tone.
3. Sharp in intent, sarcastic.
   • And that is really the long and the short of the whole matter, my mordacious friend. 1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
4. Prone to biting, aggressive (of an animal etc.).
   • Not gyved with connubial relations, I entered upon my migration entirely isolated, with the exception of a canine quadruped whose mordacious, latrant, lusorious, and venatic qualities, are without parity. 1856, Samuel Klinefelter Hoshour, Letters to Squire Pedant, in the East, page 13:

Forms

Deriveds

mordacity · mordaciously

Relateds

mordant · mordancy

Translations (24)

hu csípős (biting, sharp or caustic in style or tone) · nl bijtend (sharp in intent, sarcastic) · es mordaz (biting, sharp or caustic in style or tone) · nl bijtend (biting, sharp or caustic in style or tone) · ru язви́тельный (sharp in intent, sarcastic) · ru язви́тельный (biting, sharp or caustic in style or tone) · nl bijtend (prone to biting) · nl scherp (biting, sharp or caustic in style or tone) · nl bijtend (biting, causing a bite or sting) · bg хаплив (prone to biting) · bg саркастичен (sharp in intent, sarcastic) · hu metsző (biting, sharp or caustic in style or tone) · nl scherp (sharp in intent, sarcastic) · nl sarcastisch (sharp in intent, sarcastic) · ru куса́чий (prone to biting) · ru е́дкий (biting, causing a bite or sting) · nl scherp (biting, causing a bite or sting) · es mordedor (prone to biting) · ru е́дкий (biting, sharp or caustic in style or tone) · bg хаплив (biting, causing a bite or sting) · nl bijtgraag (prone to biting) · bg язвителен (biting, sharp or caustic in style or tone) · ru е́дкий (sharp in intent, sarcastic) · nl bitter (sharp in intent, sarcastic)