Definition of MOTLEY

motley

Plural: motleys

Noun

  • A jester's multi-colored garment; a diverse mixture.
  • a collection containing a variety of sorts of things
  • a garment made of motley (especially a court jester's costume)
  • a multicolored woolen fabric woven of mixed threads in 14th to 17th century England
  • An incongruous mixture.
  • A jester's multicoloured clothes.
  • A jester; a fool.

Verb

  • make something more diverse and varied
  • make motley; color with different colors

Adjective Satellite

  • consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds; ; ; ; ; ; - I.A.Richards
    • "a motley crew"
  • having sections or patches colored differently and usually brightly
    • "a jester dressed in motley"

Adj

  • Comprising greatly varied elements, to the point of incongruity.
  • Having many colours; variegated.

Adjective

  • Composed of diverse, often contrasting, elements.

Examples

  • His rack of letters was a MOTLEY collection, hard to form into one coherent word.
  • The jumble of high and low-value tiles formed a MOTLEY on the Scrabble board.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English motle, from Anglo-Norman motteley (“parti-colored”), from Old English mot (“speck”). Doublet of mote. The English word can be analysed as mottle + -y.

Synonyms

assorted, assortment, calico, miscellanea, miscellaneous, miscellany, mixed, mixed bag, mixture, multi-color, multi-colored, multi-colour, multi-coloured, multicolor, multicolored, multicolour, multicoloured, painted, parti-color, particolored, particoloured, piebald, pied, potpourri, salmagundi, smorgasbord, sundry, varicolored, varicoloured, variegate, variety, vary, aurora-colored (US) / aurora-coloured, catholic, colorful, colorful (US) / colourful, colorific, discolored [⇒ thesaurus] (US, dishomogeneous, diverse, diversified, eclectic, heterogeneous, kaleidoscopic, liberal, manifold, many-coloured, motley, multichromatic, multicolor (US) / multicolour, multicolored (US) / multicoloured, multicolorous, multifarious, multifold, multihued, obsolete) / discoloured, particolored (US) / particoloured, polychromate, polychromatic, polychromed, polyhued, prismatic, rainbow, rainbow-colored (US) / rainbow-coloured, tissued, variable, varied, variegated, various

Scrabble Score: 11

motley: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
motley: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
motley: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

motley: valid Words With Friends Word