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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Law A hypothetical case argued by law students as an exercise.
  2. n. An ancient English meeting, especially a representative meeting of the freemen of a shire.
  3. v. To bring up as a subject for discussion or debate.
  4. v. To discuss or debate. See Synonyms at broach1.
  5. v. Law To plead or argue (a case) in a moot court.
  6. adj. Subject to debate; arguable: a moot question.
  7. adj. Law Without legal significance, through having been previously decided or settled.
  8. adj. Of no practical importance; irrelevant.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A meeting; a formal assembly. In this sense obsolete, except as used, chiefly in the archaic (Middle English) form mote, in certain historical terms, as folkmoot or folkmote, hallmote, etc. See def.; 3.
  2. n. The place of such a meeting.
  3. n. In early English history, a court formed by assembling the men of the village or tun, the hundred, or the kingdom, or their representatives. It exercised political and administrative functions with some judicial powers. Compare witena-gemot. See the quotation.
  4. n. Dispute; debate; discussion; specifically, in law, an argument on a hypothetical case by way of practice.
  5. Relating to or connected with debatable questions; subject to discussion; discussed or debated; debatable; unsettled.
  6. To debate; discuss; argue for and against; introduce or submit for discussion.
  7. Specifically.
  8. In law, to plead or argue (a cause or supposed cause) merely by way of exercise or practice.
  9. To speak; utter.
  10. To argue; dispute.
  11. To plead or argue a supposed cause.
  12. n. An obsolete variant of mot.
  13. To dig.
  14. n. In ship-building:
  15. n. A ring used to gage the diameter of treenails.
  16. n. A piece of hard wood bound with iron at both ends, used in making blocks.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Australia Vagina.
  2. adj. UK Subject to discussion (originally at a moot); arguable, debatable, unsolved or impossible to solve.
  3. adj. North America Having no practical impact or relevance.
  4. adj. North America Being an exercise of thought; academic.
  5. n. A moot court.
  6. n. A system of arbitration in many areas of Africa in which the primary goal is to settle a dispute and reintegrate adversaries into society rather than assess penalties.
  7. n. Scouting A gathering of Rovers (18 - 26 year-old Scouts). Usually a camp lasting 2 weeks.
  8. n. paganism A social gathering of pagans, normally held in a public house.
  9. v. To bring up as a subject for debate, to propose.
  10. v. To discuss or debate.
  11. v. US To make or declare irrelevant.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. obsolete See 1st mot.
  2. n. (Shipbuilding) A ring for gauging wooden pins.
  3. v. To argue for and against; to debate; to discuss; to propose for discussion.
  4. v. Specifically: To discuss by way of exercise; to argue for practice; to propound and discuss in a mock court.
  5. v. To render inconsequential, as having no effect on the practical outcome; to render academic.
  6. v. To argue or plead in a supposed case.
  7. n. A meeting for discussion and deliberation; esp., a meeting of the people of a village or district, in Anglo-Saxon times, for the discussion and settlement of matters of common interest; -- usually in composition.
  8. n. A discussion or debate; especially, a discussion of fictitious causes by way of practice.
  9. adj. Subject, or open, to argument or discussion; undecided; debatable; mooted.
  10. adj. Of purely theoretical or academic interest; having no practical consequence.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a hypothetical case that law students argue as an exercise
  2. v. think about carefully; weigh.
  3. adj. open to argument or debate
  4. adj. of no legal significance (as having been previously decided)

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English moot, mot, ȝemot, from Old English mōt, gemōt ("moot, society, assembly, meeting, court, council, synod"), from Proto-Germanic *mōtan (“encounter, meeting, assembly”), from Proto-Indo-European *mōd-, *mād- (“to encounter, come”). Cognate with Scots mut, mote ("meeting, assembly"), Low German mote ("meeting"), Danish møde ("meeting"), Swedish möte ("meeting"), Icelandic mót ("meeting, tournament, meet"). Related to meet. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, meeting, from Old English mōt, gemōt. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘moot’.

Comments

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  • Vieuxtemps You say contronymic, I say oxymoronic. Debatably non-debatable. You decide. Is it a moot question?..................My point exactly.
    Sep 8, 2011

  • JTroyer "...realizing the point is in serious danger of becoming moot-" Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen Oct 17, 2010

  • milosrdenstvi Also, when used as a noun archaically, has the sense of 'a place of meeting'. Derived, I think, from Icelandic. Jul 4, 2008

  • jaymediane

    Joey: All right, Rach, the big question is, does he like you? All right? Because if he doesn't like you, this is all a moo-point.

    Rachel: Huh. A moo-point?

    Joey: Yeah, it's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo.

    Rachel: (to Monica and Phoebe) Have I been living with him for too long, or did that all just make sense? May 22, 2008

  • sionnach Jane Smiley on free will. Jan 31, 2008

  • reesetee You sure did. And it was a beautiful thing. Oct 10, 2007

  • colleen I geeked out mightily for a moment, there, huh? Oct 10, 2007

  • reesetee Oh, there must be a Tolkien list here somewhere. :-) Oct 9, 2007

  • colleen Yes, actually "Rohirric" is just Anglo-Saxon, or Englisc, if you prefer. :)

    Has anyone done a Tolkien list? Oct 9, 2007

  • chained_bear I suspect Tolkien used "Entmoot" in the same sense as moot court. Makes sense to me. He was a big fan of obsolete Old English words too... :) Oct 9, 2007

  • colleen There is also the Old Entish meaning... Oct 9, 2007

  • chained_bear What do you mean, "opposite sense"? It means both things, right? (Isn't that what contronymic means?) Usually when people say something's moot, they mean it isn't worth arguing over or debating because there are no consequences. Which is correct, because it's one of the two definitions.

    I like "moo point." I think I'll use that. Oct 9, 2007

  • arby My favorite misunderstanding of "moot" was on Friends, when Joey said something was a "moo point" - because it's as meaningless as what a cow would say. Oct 9, 2007

  • jennarenn Wow, I am so guilty. Oct 9, 2007

  • ejnorman It's amazing how many people use the word "moot" without knowing what is means, isn't it? And they usually use it in the opposite sense. Oct 9, 2007

  • oroboros Contronymic in the sense: debatable vs. non-debatable. Jan 27, 2007

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‘moot’ has been looked up 6396 times, loved by 11 people, added to 107 lists, commented on 16 times, and has a Scrabble score of 6.