Mercurial vs Evanescent - What's the difference?
mercurial | evanescent |
(obsolete) Any of the plants known as mercury.
(astrology) Someone born under the influence of Mercury.
(often capitalized, see (Mercurial)) Pertaining to the planet Mercury.
(often capitalized, see (Mercurial)) Pertaining to the Roman god Mercury, the god of trade; hence, money-making; crafty..
* J. Q. Adams
(astrology) Born under the influence of the planet Mercury, and having such characteristics.
Of, or pertaining to the element mercury; containing mercury; caused by the action of mercury or quicksilver.
Having a volatile or lively character; quick-witted, changeable, animated.
* 1723 , Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury , I:
Vanishing, disappearing.
* 1837 , , "Footprints on the Sea-Shore" in Twice-Told Tales :
* 1911 , , Initials Only , ch. 19:
Ephemeral, momentary, fleeting.
* 1851 , , Moby Dick , ch. 46:
Barely there; almost imperceptible.
* 1888 , , "The Withered Arm":
* 1907 , , The Secret Agent , ch. 7:
* 1916 , , Twilight in Italy , ch. 1:
As adjectives the difference between mercurial and evanescent
is that mercurial is (often capitalized, see {{term|Mercurial}}) Pertaining to the planet Mercury while evanescent is vanishing, disappearing.As a noun mercurial
is any of the plants known as mercury.mercurial
English
Noun
(en noun)Adjective
(en adjective)- the mercurial wand of commerce
- From the natural Mercurial Briskness of her Temper, a sedentary Life had ever been her Aversion [...].
Derived terms
* mercurial eczema * mercurial glossitis * mercurial ointment * mercurial phosphorus * mercurial pneumatic trough * mercurial rash * mercurial trough * mercurialisation, mercurialization * mercurialise, mercurialize * mercurialism * mercurialist * mercuriality * mercurially * organomercurialevanescent
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- The sea was each little bird's great playmate. . . . In their airy flutterings, they seemed to rest on the evanescent spray.
- . . . making the ideal of my foolish girlhood seem as unsubstantial and evanescent as a dream in the glowing noontide.
- In times of strong emotion mankind disdain all base considerations; but such times are evanescent .
- Her face too was fresh in colour, but it was of a totally different quality—soft and evanescent , like the light under a heap of rose-petals.
- While he was speaking the hands on the face of the clock behind the great man's back—a heavy, glistening affair of massive scrolls in the same dark marble as the mantelpiece, and with a ghostly, evanescent tick—had moved through the space of seven minutes.
- And I was pale, and clear, and evanescent , like the light, and they were dark, and close, and constant, like the shadow.
