modus operandi
Americannoun
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a mode of operating or working.
The aim of a scientist is to investigate the modus operandi of the natural world.
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one’s usual way of doing something: MO
A criminal’s modus operandi can give the police a lead.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of modus operandi
First recorded in 1645–55; New Latin: literally “mode of working”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"It's almost Scooby-Doo-ish following footwear marks around, but the links are there and you can see it, and that modus operandi bringing it all together is what makes it."
From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026
Other digital asset treasury companies that sought to ape Saylor’s modus operandi have suffered a similar fate.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 5, 2026
Three former case managers, who worked as liaisons between clients and attorneys, described the same modus operandi at DTLA: Sign up personal injury clients, then get them to agree to surgeries.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 31, 2025
His modus operandi generally is better understood when he is so considered.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025
York could see that fashioning a modus operandi for the new lab that met both men’s specifications would be practically impossible, for “they were poles apart.”
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
