mercurial

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“
But Galen is supposed to be impulsive, mercurial, and utterly transparent in his emotions.

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Definitions (24)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Roman Mythology Of or relating to the god Mercury.
  2. adjective Astronomy Of or relating to the planet Mercury.
  3. adjective Having the characteristics of eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, and thievishness attributed to the god Mercury.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (50)

  • Even without the cover disclosure "Joyce Carol Oates writing as..." the unmistakably edgy and energized style would tip off the true authorship of this modern gothic, in which teenage Annemarie Straube comes to live with her beautiful, mercurial, and very weird aunt Drewe Hildebrand, operator of a Hudson River artists' colony. —  EQMM,August2006
  • The frivolous and the mercurial were not in Calvin's make-up. —  Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Reformers, V9
  • His mood were mercurial, his responses violent As the qadir grew more tyrannical, Mishra grew more popular among the Suwwardi. —  JEFF GRUBB
  • Talor Battle, Penn State's mercurial guard - mercurial is a great word, isn't it?
  • Kitt embodied a somewhat dated aspect of womanhood: mysterious, mercurial, and malevolent, a strange collision of muse and minx. —  Dusty Wright's Culture Catch - Smart, Pop Culture Podcasts & Written Reviews - Arts & Entertainment
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This word has been looked up 252 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

inconstant ·  fickle ·  excitable ·  volatile ·  changeable ·  flighty ·  impulsive ·  irresolute ·  erratic ·  vivacious ·  irascible ·  jovial

Used in the same contextWord Family

mercurial:   Mercurial
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, of the planet Mercury, from Latin mercuriālis, of the god or planet Mercury, from Mercurius, Mercury.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French mercuriel = Spanish Portuguese mercurial = Italian mercuriale, from Latin Mercurialis, of or pertaining to the god Mercury or to the planet Mercury, from Mercurius, Mercury: see Mercury.
 

Pronunciations
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/mərˈkjuriəl/
by American Heritage

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