QUICKSILVER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does quicksilver mean? 

• QUICKSILVER (noun)
  The noun QUICKSILVER has 1 sense:

1. a heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures

  Familiarity information: QUICKSILVER used as a noun is very rare.

• QUICKSILVER (adjective)
  The adjective QUICKSILVER has 1 sense:

1. liable to sudden unpredictable change

  Familiarity information: QUICKSILVER used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• QUICKSILVER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

atomic number 80; Hg; hydrargyrum; mercury; quicksilver

Hypernyms ("quicksilver" is a kind of...):

metal; metallic element (any of several chemical elements that are usually shiny solids that conduct heat or electricity and can be formed into sheets etc.)

Holonyms ("quicksilver" is a substance of...):

cinnabar (a heavy reddish mineral consisting of mercuric sulfide; the chief source of mercury)

calomel; mercurous chloride (a tasteless colorless powder used medicinally as a cathartic)

• QUICKSILVER (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Liable to sudden unpredictable change

Synonyms:

erratic; fickle; mercurial; quicksilver

Context example:

a quicksilver character, cool and willful at one moment, utterly fragile the next

Similar:

changeable; changeful (such that alteration is possible; having a marked tendency to change)

 Context examples 

Lake Gladys—my own lake—lay like a sheet of quicksilver before me, with a reflected moon shining brightly in the center of it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)