Define the word mercurial"Mercurial" gcide "The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48"
Mercurial \Mer*cu"ri*al\, a. [L. mercurialis, fr. Mercurius
Mercury: cf. F. mercuriel.]
1. Having the qualities fabled to belong to the god Mercury;
swift; active; sprightly; fickle; volatile; changeable;
as, a mercurial youth; a mercurial temperament.
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A mercurial man
Who fluttered over all things like a fan. --Byron.
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2. Having the form or image of Mercury; -- applied to ancient
guideposts. [Obs.] --Chillingworth.
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3. Of or pertaining to Mercury as the god of trade; hence,
money-making; crafty.
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The mercurial wand of commerce. --J. Q. Adams.
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4. Of or pertaining to, or containing, mercury; as, mercurial
preparations, barometer. See Mercury, 2.
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5. (Med.) Caused by the use of mercury; as, mercurial sore
mouth.
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"Mercurial" gcide "The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48"
Mercurial \Mer*cu"ri*al\, n.
1. A person having mercurial qualities. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Med.) A preparation containing mercury.
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"mercurial" wn "WordNet (r) 2.0"
mercurial
adj 1: liable to sudden unpredictable change; "erratic behavior";
"fickle weather"; "mercurial twists of temperament";
"a quicksilver character, cool and willful at one
moment, utterly fragile the next" [syn: erratic, fickle,
quicksilver(a)]
2: relating to or under the (astrological) influence of the
planet Mercury; "the Mercurial canals"
3: relating to or having characteristics (eloquence,
shrewdness, swiftness, thievishness) attributed to the god
Mercury; "more than Mercurial thievishness"
4: relating to or containing or caused by mercury; "mercurial
preparations"; "mercurial sore mouth"
"mercurial" moby-thes "Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0"
236 Moby Thesaurus words for "mercurial":
active, activist, activistic, adrift, adroit, afloat, agile, alive,
alternating, ambitendent, ambivalent, amorphous, animated,
at loose ends, aureate, bouncing, bouncy, brass, brassy, brazen,
breakneck, breezy, brisk, bronze, bronzy, bubbly, buoyant,
capricious, changeable, changeful, changing, chipper, choppy,
clever, copper, coppery, coquettish, cunning, cupreous, cuprous,
dashing, desultory, deviable, deviating, deviative, deviatory,
different, disorderly, divaricate, divergent, diversified,
diversiform, dizzy, double-minded, double-quick, dubious,
eagle-winged, ebullient, eccentric, effervescent, elastic,
energetic, erose, erratic, expansive, expeditious, express,
faddish, fast, fast and loose, fence-sitting, fence-straddling,
ferrous, ferruginous, fickle, fitful, fleet, flickering, flighty,
flirtatious, flitting, fluctuating, flying, freakish, frisky,
full of go, full of life, full of pep, galloping, giddy, gilt,
gold, gold-filled, gold-plated, golden, hair-trigger, hasty,
headlong, hustling, impetuous, impulsive, inconsistent, inconstant,
indecisive, infirm, infirm of purpose, ingenious, iron, ironlike,
irregular, irresolute, irresolved, irresponsible, jagged, jerky,
lead, leaden, light, light of heel, light-footed, live, lively,
lubricious, mazy, mercurous, militant, mobile, moody, motley,
movable, mugwumpian, mugwumpish, mutable, nickel, nickelic,
nickeline, nimble, nimble-footed, nonconformist, nonstandard,
nonuniform, of two minds, peppy, perky, pert, pewter, pewtery,
pluralistic, precipitate, prompt, quick, quick as lightning,
quick as thought, quicksilver, ragged, rambling, rapid, reckless,
resilient, restless, rough, roving, running, scatterbrained,
shapeless, shifting, shifty, shuffling, silver, silver-plated,
silvery, skittish, smacking, snappy, spanking, spasmodic, speedy,
spineless, spirited, sporadic, sprightly, spry, steel, steely,
swift, temperamental, ticklish, tin, tinny, toying, unaccountable,
uncertain, uncontrolled, undecided, undependable, undetermined,
undisciplined, unequable, unequal, uneven, unfixed, unorthodox,
unpredictable, unreliable, unresolved, unrestrained, unsettled,
unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady,
unsystematic, ununiform, vacillating, vagrant, variable,
variegated, variform, various, varying, versatile, vicissitudinary,
vicissitudinous, vivacious, volatile, wandering, wanton, wavering,
wavery, wavy, wayward, whimsical, winged, wishy-washy, zingy
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