1
as in eclectic
consisting of many things of different sorts
a ship with a motley crew of old salts, young adventurers, and shifty characters of all ages
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in colorful
marked by a variety of usually vivid colors
a tropical bird with motley plumage
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
2
as in assortment
an unorganized collection or mixture of various things
a motley of old junk stored in the attic
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of motley
Randy Myers, Mercury News, 7 Apr. 2026
Masterminded by nonprofit organization War Child and produced by Brian Eno, the album brought together a motley group of big-ticket artists—Radiohead, the Chemical Brothers, the Stone Roses, Paul McCartney—and raised over a million pounds for children caught in the Bosnian war.
—Hannah Jocelyn, Pitchfork, 18 Mar. 2026
Sara Holdren, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
This made us—with all our human, mortal limitations—rather like the God of all those past centuries of belief, or should that be credulity: the God who retained and stored away everything in his motley, moveless time, in which nothing was new or old, remote or recent.
—Margaret Jull Costa, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023
See All Example Sentences for motley
Adjective
The result is a scathing takedown that will find techies throughout the Valley looking over their shoulders and speculating on who is who amongst the show’s motley collection of fictional backstabbers obsessed with growing their profit margin and amassing wealth and power.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 7 Apr. 2026
Masterminded by nonprofit organization War Child and produced by Brian Eno, the album brought together a motley group of big-ticket artists—Radiohead, the Chemical Brothers, the Stone Roses, Paul McCartney—and raised over a million pounds for children caught in the Bosnian war.
—Hannah Jocelyn, Pitchfork, 18 Mar. 2026
Noun
Her goal is to start a women’s consciousness-raising group, and her efforts have brought together a motley, inquisitive quintet.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 20 Feb. 2025
This made us—with all our human, mortal limitations—rather like the God of all those past centuries of belief, or should that be credulity: the God who retained and stored away everything in his motley, moveless time, in which nothing was new or old, remote or recent.
—Margaret Jull Costa, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023
See All Example Sentences for motley
Recent Examples of Synonyms for motley
Adjective
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Visitors can also hike through the salt marshes of Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, stop for coffee and pastries at Dave's Coffee, or browse the eclectic shops and gardens at Fantastic Umbrella Factory, a former 19th-century farmyard turned open-air shopping village.—
Lauren Dana Ellman,
Travel + Leisure,
13 June 2026
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Moss has colonized the ceiling, and tall trees keep sentry over the store’s diverse and eclectic inventory.—
Marc Weingarten,
Los Angeles Times,
13 June 2026
Adjective
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Sprouting from its Inlet Parking Lot, the historic Boardwalk features a lively mix of colorful shops, enticing restaurants, arcades and more.—
USA TODAY Network,
USA Today,
10 June 2026
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Plants with colorful or fragrant blooms attract insects for pollination, and are less likely to affect allergies.—
Alexandra Jones,
The Spruce,
10 June 2026
Noun
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Don’t let the simple style fool you, though, because the ultra-soft foam insoles provide solid arch support.—
Caitlyn Fitzpatrick,
PEOPLE,
9 June 2026
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Brute-forcing the one-time code for a single account—meaning iterating through every possible combination until the right one is entered—would be little more than a fool’s errand, even within the three-hour window that the codes remained valid.—
Ashley Belanger,
ArsTechnica,
4 June 2026
Noun
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Each sister influenced a different section of the assortment, which Quay developed to reflect their individual styles while still reading as one family offering.—
Maggie Clancy,
Footwear News,
14 June 2026
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Looking ahead Beyond the fidgets that make up the majority of their inventory, Victoria Essie Studio still sells an assortment of earrings and homewares like trinket dishes and coasters.—
Jennifer Liu
Valentina Duarte,
CNBC,
14 June 2026
Adjective
-
The important thing is to keep eating vegetables and maintaining a varied but healthy diet.—
Vanessa Caceres,
Verywell Health,
10 June 2026
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These frameworks are aimed at deploying knowledge that can be applied in varied settings and are diverse or multimodal.—
Wyles Daniel,
USA Today,
9 June 2026
Adjective
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Calvo, who is often chaufferred by a police escort but was driving himself on Sunday, also received a second citation under the Florida Statute that regulates the use of emergency and colored lights on vehicles.—
Verónica Egui Brito,
Miami Herald,
15 June 2026
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Crosby used acrylic paint, colored pencils, charcoal, and transfers on paper to create the massive 9-by-10 piece.—
CBS Chicago Team,
CBS News,
15 June 2026
Noun
-
Hints at the canonical Big Daddies of existential clown float through the air — Beckett would recognize this pair, and so would Jean Genet.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
14 June 2026
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The comments section is filled with college football fans from all over the country calling the university's athletic department a bunch of clowns and hypocrites, but one Big 12 rival, the TCU Horned Frogs, put out a statement of their own in response to Tech's video.—
Austin Perry OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
12 June 2026
Noun
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Arches and natural bridges sweep like buttresses from jumbles of rock, giving this landscape a mystical, cathedral-like quality.—
Madison Chapman,
Outside,
25 Mar. 2026
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Macaroons are chewy jumbles of coconut bound together with egg whites and sweetened condensed milk.—
Lynda Balslev,
Mercury News,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Motley.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/motley. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
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