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View synonyms for mongrel

mongrel

[ muhng-gruhl, mong- ]

noun

  1. a dog of mixed or indeterminate breed.

    Synonyms: mutt

  2. any animal or plant resulting from the crossing of different breeds or varieties.

    Synonyms: half-breed, cross

    Antonyms: purebred, thoroughbred

  3. any cross between different things, especially if inharmonious or indiscriminate.


adjective

  1. of mixed breed, nature, or origin; of or like a mongrel.

mongrel

/ ˈmʌŋɡrəl /

noun

  1. a plant or animal, esp a dog, of mixed or unknown breeding; a crossbreed or hybrid
  2. taboo.
    a person of mixed race
  3. sport toughness and physical aggression

    a tall southpaw with plenty of mongrel



adjective

  1. of mixed origin, breeding, character, etc

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Derived Forms

  • ˈmongrelly, adjective
  • ˈmongrelism, noun

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Other Words From

  • mongrel·ism mongrel·ness noun
  • mongrel·ly adverb

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Word History and Origins

Origin of mongrel1

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English (once): heraldic term for a type of dog; equivalent to mong(e) “mixture” ( Old English gemang; mingle ) + -rel

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Word History and Origins

Origin of mongrel1

C15: from obsolete mong mixture; compare Old English gemong a mingling

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Synonym Study

See hybrid.

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Example Sentences

On the one hand, Wilfred is a pot-smoking, hard-drinking, Matt Damon-loving, mongrel dog.

The dog was a mongrel, maybe 35 pounds, and the kid was trying to balance it in front of him on the frame of his bicycle.

He has called the president of the United States a “subhuman mongrel,” and only Hunter S. Thompson can do that.

Miscegenation would follow and a mongrel race would be the result.

Sam Bungey grew up in London, went to university in Dublin and co-founded Mongrel, a monthly magazine about Irish youth culture.

Yet how came it that even a low-caste mongrel of a Lascar should offer such an overt insult to a Brahmin!

Diard's mongrel position, which he himself made still more questionable, brought him great troubles.

With our door ajar we watched the ghastly struggle between the faithful mongrel and the assassin.

But he was such a forlornly muddy mongrel pup, and so eloquent of tail, that I spoke his name on an impulse, and put out my hand.

And a mongrel followed faithfully all the time unnoticed, and wondering, perhaps, at his master.

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mongoosemongrelize