moot

pronunciation

How to pronounce moot in British English: UK [mu:t] word uk audio image

How to pronounce moot in American English: US [mut] word us audio image

Noun:

a hypothetical case that law students argue as an exercise
Verb:

think about carefully; weigh
Adjective:

of no legal significance (as having been previously decided)
open to argument or debate

Word Origin

moot: moot: [OE] Etymologically, a ‘moot point’ is one talked about at a ‘meeting’. For ‘meeting’ is the original sense of the noun moot – particularly as applied in early medieval England to a meeting functioning as a court of law. The word goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *mōtam ‘meeting’, source also of English meet. Its modern adjectival usage seems to have emerged in the 16th century. The derived verb moot goes back to Old English times (mōtian ‘converse, plead in court’), but again its present-day use, for ‘suggest, propose’, is a more recent development, dating from the 17th century.=> meet

moot (n.): "assembly of freemen," mid-12c., from Old English gemot "meeting" (especially of freemen, to discuss community affairs or mete justice), "society, assembly, council," from Proto-Germanic *ga-motan (compare Old Low Frankish muot "encounter," Middle Dutch moet, Middle High German muoz), from collective prefix *ga- + *motan (see meet (v.)).

moot (adj.): "debatable; not worth considering" from moot case, earlier simply moot (n.) "discussion of a hypothetical law case" (1530s), in law student jargon. The reference is to students gathering to test their skills in mock cases.

moot (v.): "to debate," Old English motian "to meet, talk, discuss," from mot (see moot (n.)). Related: Mooted; mooting.

1. These points are moot , though , if we continue our systemic slashing of funding for public higher education .

4. Closing that gap would moot the issue for many voters and put the spotlight squarely on economic issues or other concerns .

5. Whether the symbolic conviction of a former president will change this state of things is moot .