mercurial
Americanadjective
-
changeable; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic.
a mercurial nature.
- Synonyms:
- indecisive, inconstant
-
animated; lively; sprightly; quick-witted.
- Synonyms:
- spirited
- Antonyms:
- phlegmatic
-
pertaining to, containing, or caused by the metal mercury.
-
(initial capital letter) of or relating to the god Mercury.
-
(initial capital letter) of or relating to the planet Mercury.
noun
adjective
-
of, like, containing, or relating to mercury
-
volatile; lively
a mercurial temperament
-
(sometimes capital) of, like, or relating to the god or the planet Mercury
noun
Other Word Forms
- mercuriality noun
- mercurially adverb
- mercurialness noun
- unmercurial adjective
- unmercurially adverb
- unmercurialness noun
Etymology
Origin of mercurial
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin mercuriālis “of or pertaining to the god or planet Mercury”; mercury, -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Capital Group ascended to the No. 1 spot by taking advantage of mercurial markets and seeing long-term bets pay off.
From Barron's
Fourth was the mercurial Arwel Thomas, who was the star man for Swansea and whom Henson tried to learn off when starting out as a young player.
From BBC
The novel recounts the investigative bread-crumb trail he follows into rural Peru to uncover the background of this vain, mercurial prodigy.
Valieva, a mercurial talent who performances drew worldwide attention, was eventually banned for four years over her failed drugs test, but there were no sanctions for any of her entourage.
From BBC
Mr. Polito thereby gives us a poet who isn’t “just a blazing, mercurial, ingenious reviser of his own words and melodies but also a conscious, sly, artist.”
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
