motley

(mŏt'lē)
adj.

1. Having elements of great variety or incongruity; heterogeneous: "Most Ivy League freshman classes are chosen from a motley collection of constituencies . . . and a bare majority of entering students can honestly be called scholars" (New York Times).
2. Having many colors; variegated; parti-colored: a motley tunic.

n., pl., -leys.

1. The parti-colored attire of a court jester.
2. A heterogeneous, often incongruous mixture of elements.

[Middle English motlei, variegated cloth, variegated, probably from Anglo-Norman, probably from Middle English mot, speck. See mote¹.]

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Motley, costume designers. Founded in the early 1930s in London by Audrey Sophia Harris, Margaret F. Harris, and Elizabeth Montgomery, the company designed clothes for West End shows for a decade before beginning to offer their work to Americans in 1941. Among the plays that featured their costume designs were A Bell for Adano (1944), Anne of the Thousand Days (1948), South Pacific (1949), Can‐Can (1953), Peter Pan (1954), Middle of the Night (1956), The Most Happy Fella (1956), and Long Day's Journey into Night (1956).

adjective

1. Consisting of a number of different kinds: assorted, divers, diverse, diversified, heterogeneous, miscellaneous, mixed, multifarious, multiform, sundry, varied, variegated, various. Biology polymorphic, polymorphous. See same/different/compare.
2. Having many different colors: multicolor, multicolored, polychromatic, polychrome, polychromic, polychromous, varicolored, variegated, versicolor, versicolored. See colors/colorless.

adj

Definition: mixed, varied
Antonyms: homogenous, like, same, similar, uniform, unmixed, unvaried

For a list of words related to motley, see:

• Fabrics and Cloth - motley: varicolored cotton fabric, esp. for jester’s costume
• Fashion, Trim, and Sewing - motley: (adj) of variegated material, like Renaissance fool’s outfit
• Stagecraft, Production, and Dramatic Structure - motley: multicolored garment traditionally worn by jester
• Confusion

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See words rhyming with "motley."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Motley.

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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - spraglet, broget
n. - broget blanding

Nederlands (Dutch)
bont, bonte mengeling, nar(renpak)

Français (French)
adj. - bariolé
n. - habit bariolé du bouffon

Deutsch (German)
adj. - bunt
n. - Narrenkostüm, Durcheinander

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - παρδαλός, ετερογενής, ποικίλος, πολύχρωμος, ετερόκλητος

Italiano (Italian)
variopinto

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - heterogêneo, estampado (tecido)

Русский (Russian)
всякая всячина, пестрый, разнородный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - abigarrado, multicolor, variado, diversificado
n. - abigarramiento, mescolanza

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - brokig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
杂色的, 斑驳的, 混杂的, 杂多的, 杂色, 混杂, 杂色衣服

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 雜色的, 斑駁的, 混雜的, 雜多的
n. - 雜色, 混雜, 雜色衣服

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 잡다한, 얼룩얼룩한
n. - 광대, 얼룩얼룩한 옷

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 雑多な, まだらの, 雑多の, 混成の, 雑色の
n. - まだら服, まだら

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) تشكيله, خليط‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮מגוון, מעורב‬
n. - ‮תערובת מגוונת, תלבושת ליצן (מיושן)‬

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