mors-, mord- +

(Latin: bite, biting)

mordacious (adjective), more mordacious, most mordacious
1. Sharp or caustic in style, tone, sarcastic, etc.: Chuck spoke in a very mendacious manner to his sister when he caught her nosing about in his desk.
2. Concerning the capability of wounding; barbed, biting, nipping, pungent: Such mordacious ways of communication can be a barbed compliment, a biting aphorism, or a pungent satire.
3. Referring to someone or animal that is given to biting: Mr. Smith deliberately gave his rival a skittish and mordacious horse for the outing.
mordacity
1. The quality of being mordacious.
2. A disposition to biting or a sarcastic quality.
mordancy, mordantly
1. The quality of being mordant; sharpness.
2. A biting and caustic quality of style.
3. A sharply critical or bitter quality of thought or feeling; harshness.
mordant, mordanting, mordanted, mordants
1. Bitingly sarcastic: mordant satire.
2. Incisive and trenchant.
3. Bitingly painful.
4. Serving to fix colors in dyeing, as with a reagent, such as tannic acid, that fixes dyes to cells, tissues, or textiles or other materials.
5. A corrosive substance; such as, an acid, used in etching.
mordent
1. A melodic ornament in which a principal tone is rapidly alternated with the tone a half or full step below.
2. Etymology: From German, from Italian mordente, from mordere, "to bite", from Latin mordere, from Latin mordre.
mordicancy
A biting quality; corrosiveness.
mordication
The act of biting or corroding; corrosion.
morsel
1. A bite, mouthful, or small portion of food, candy, etc.
2. A small piece, quantity, or amount of anything; scrap; bit: "A morsel of paper was all he needed."
3. Something very appetizing; treat or tidbit.
4. A person or thing that is attractive or delightful.
5. To distribute in or to divide into tiny portions; often followed by out; such as, to morsel out the last pieces of meat.
morsitation
The act of biting or gnawing.
morsure
The act of biting.
Mortui non mordent.
Dead men don't bite.

An alternate meaning is "Dead men carry no tales."

premorse, praemorse (adjective) (not comparable)
Regarding a part of a plant, as a root, that has been terminated abruptly, or as if something were bitten off; unevenly truncate: Little Sally was surprised when she saw the premorse leaf of her newly planted flower that had evidently been chewed off by some uninvited creature or insect!
remorse (s) (noun) (no plural)
1. Moral anguish arising from repentance for past misdeeds; a bitter regret: Elisabeth was filled with remorse for not visiting her parents more often when they were still alive.
2. Etymology: from Latin remorsum, from remordre, "to torment"; from re-, "again, back" + mordre, "to bite."
A bad feeling from a sense of guilt for doing something wrong.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

remorsed
Feeling remorse.
remorseful, remorsefulness
1. Marked by or filled with remorse.
2. Feeling or expressing pain or sorrow for sins or offenses; synonyms: contrite, rueful, sorry.