[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

mercurial \mercu"rial\, 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.
      1913 webster

            a mercurial man
            who fluttered over all things like a fan. --byron.
      1913 webster

   2. having the form or image of mercury; -- applied to ancient
      guideposts. obs. --chillingworth.
      1913 webster

   3. of or pertaining to mercury as the god of trade; hence,
      money-making; crafty.
      1913 webster

            the mercurial wand of commerce.       --j. q. adams.
      1913 webster

   4. of or pertaining to, or containing, mercury; as, mercurial
      preparations, barometer. see mercury, 2.
      1913 webster

   5. med. caused by the use of mercury; as, mercurial sore
      mouth.
      1913 webster
see also:
mercury 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

mercurial \mercu"rial\, n.
   1. a person having mercurial qualities. --bacon.
      1913 webster

   2. med. a preparation containing mercury.
      1913 webster

[3] : 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,
             quicksilvera
     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"
see also:
erratic fickle quicksilvera 

[4] : 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

Mercurial >> M Words
Mercurial, definition of term: Mercurial
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