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mettle

Pronunciation: /ˈmɛtəl/

The English word “mettle” has 3 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A quality of courage and endurance.
  2. Good temperament and character.

adjective

  1. Spirited, vigorous, stout-hearted.

Etymology

From figurative use of metal (since 16th century). The two spellings were originally interchangeable variants, but came to be distinguished by sense in the 18th century.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.