Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

moot

Syllabification: (moot)
Pronunciation: /mo͞ot/

Translate moot | into German | into Italian
Definition of moot

adjective

  • subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty, and typically not admitting of a final decision:whether the temperature rise was mainly due to the greenhouse effect was a moot point
  • having no practical significance, typically because the subject is too uncertain to allow a decision:it is moot whether this phrase should be treated as metaphor or not

verb

[with object] (usually be mooted)
  • raise (a question or topic) for discussion; suggest (an idea or possibility):Sylvia needed a vacation, and a trip to Ireland had been mooted

noun

  • 1British an assembly held for debate, especially in Anglo-Saxon and medieval times.
  • a regular gathering of people having a common interest.
  • 2 Law a mock trial set up to examine a hypothetical case as an academic exercise.

Origin:

Old English mōt 'assembly or meeting' and mōtian 'to converse', of Germanic origin; related to meet1. The adjective (originally an attributive noun use: see moot court) dates from the mid 16th century; the current verb sense dates from the mid 17th century

Note that a question subject to debate or dispute is a moot point, not a mute point. As moot is a relatively uncommon word, people sometimes mistakenly interpret it as the more familar word mute.

moot in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of moot in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

  |  Cite

Word of the day

kempt

/ kɛm(p)t /
adjective
maintained in a neat and clean condition …