How to Use mordant in a Sentence

mordant

adjective

• 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
• In the 1970s, Lewis became a stand-up comic in Greenwich Village, making the late-night talk show circuit, and becoming well-known for his mordant stage presence and frenetically self-deprecating humor.
  — Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 28 Feb. 2024

Last Updated: 5 Sep 2024