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MOODY
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
Irregular inflected forms: moodier , moodiest
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
United States evangelist (1837-1899)
Synonyms:
Dwight Lyman Moody; Moody
Classified under:
Instance hypernyms:
evangelist; gospeler; gospeller; revivalist (a preacher of the Christian gospel)
Sense 2
Meaning:
United States tennis player who dominated women's tennis in the 1920s and 1930s (1905-1998)
Synonyms:
Helen Newington Wills; Helen Wills; Helen Wills Moody; Moody
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Instance hypernyms:
tennis player (an athlete who plays tennis)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Subject to sharply varying moods
Example:
a temperamental opera singer
Synonyms:
moody; temperamental
Classified under:
Similar:
emotional (of more than usual emotion)
Derivation:
mood (a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling)
moodiness (having temperamental and changeable moods)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Example:
a sullen crowd
Synonyms:
dark; dour; glowering; glum; moody; morose; saturnine; sour; sullen
Classified under:
Similar:
ill-natured (having an irritable and unpleasant disposition)
Derivation:
moodiness (a sullen gloomy feeling)
Context examples:
That night, when Beth played to Mr. Laurence in the twilight, Laurie, standing in the shadow of the curtain, listened to the little David, whose simple music always quieted his moody spirit, and watched the old man, who sat with his gray head on his hand, thinking tender thoughts of the dead child he had loved so much.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
He was moody, irritable, and pensive by turns, lost his appetite, neglected his dress and devoted much time to playing tempestuously on his piano, avoided Jo, but consoled himself by staring at her from his window, with a tragic face that haunted her dreams by night and oppressed her with a heavy sense of guilt by day.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Amy's lecture put the matter in a new light, and for the first time it did look weak and selfish to lose heart at the first failure, and shut himself up in moody indifference.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Therefore the next time the old gentleman found him getting restless and moody and ordered him off, he went to Vienna, where he had musical friends, and fell to work with the firm determination to distinguish himself.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I wasn't meant for a life like this, and I know I shall break away and do something desperate if somebody doesn't come and help me, she said to herself, when her first efforts failed and she fell into the moody, miserable state of mind which often comes when strong wills have to yield to the inevitable.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)