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definitions

mood

1
[mood]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mood ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a state or quality of feeling at a particular time: What's the boss' mood today?
a distinctive emotional quality or character: The mood of the music was almost funereal.
a prevailing emotional tone or general attitude: the country's mood.
a frame of mind disposed or receptive, as to some activity or thing: I'm not in the mood to see a movie.
a state of sullenness, gloom, or bad temper.

Origin of mood

1
before 900; Middle English; Old English mōd mind, spirit; courage; cognate with German Mut, Gothic mōths courage, Old Norse mōthr anger
Can be confusedmode mood

Synonyms for mood

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mood ON THESAURUS.COM
1. temper, humor, disposition, inclination.

mood

2
[mood]

noun

Grammar.
  1. a set of categories for which the verb is inflected in many languages, and that is typically used to indicate the syntactic relation of the clause in which the verb occurs to other clauses in the sentence, or the attitude of the speaker toward what he or she is saying, as certainty or uncertainty, wish or command, emphasis or hesitancy.
  2. a set of syntactic devices in some languages that is similar to this set in function or meaning, involving the use of auxiliary words, as can, may, might.
  3. any of the categories of these sets: the Latin indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods.
Logic. a classification of categorical syllogisms by the use of three letters that name, respectively, the major premise, the minor premise, and the conclusion.

Origin of mood

2
1525–35; special use of mood1 by influence of mode1
Also called mode.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mood

emotion, atmosphere, color, personality, mind, scene, attitude, tendency, humor, character, spirit, inclination, disposition, temperament, response, condition, desire, wish, air, aura

Examples from the Web for mood

Contemporary Examples of mood

Historical Examples of mood

  • He was no longer in a mood to counsel fight, even though he disliked to submit.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • Wild, Quixotic notions of sacrifice flooded his mood of dejection.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • In such a mood I wonder why everybody does not write poetry.

    Ballads of a Bohemian

    Robert W. Service

  • She returned and sat again at the table, and the mood vanished in weariness.

    Weighed and Wanting

    George MacDonald

  • Mrs. Roberts was not in the mood to argue; she was bent on information.

British Dictionary definitions for mood

mood

1

noun

a temporary state of mind or tempera cheerful mood
a sullen or gloomy state of mind, esp when temporaryshe's in a mood
a prevailing atmosphere or feeling
in the mood in a favourable state of mind (for something or to do something)

Word Origin for mood

Old English mōd mind, feeling; compare Old Norse mōthr grief, wrath

mood

2

noun

grammar a category of the verb or verbal inflections that expresses semantic and grammatical differences, including such forms as the indicative, subjunctive, and imperative
logic one of the possible arrangements of the syllogism, classified solely by whether the component propositions are universal or particular and affirmative or negativeCompare figure (def. 18)
Ancient name: mode

Word Origin for mood

C16: from mood 1, influenced in meaning by mode
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for mood
n.1

"emotional condition, frame of mind," Old English mod "heart, frame of mind, spirit; courage, arrogance, pride; power, violence," from Proto-Germanic *motha- (cf. Old Saxon mod "mind, courage," Old Frisian mod "intellect, mind, intention," Old Norse moðr "wrath, anger," Middle Dutch moet, Dutch moed, Old High German muot, German Mut "courage," Gothic moþs "courage, anger"), of unknown origin.

A much more vigorous word in Anglo-Saxon than currently, and used widely in compounds (e.g. modcræftig "intelligent," modful "proud"). To be in the mood "willing (to do something)" is from 1580s. First record of mood swings is from 1942.

n.2

"grammatical form indicating the function of a verb," 1560s, an alteration of mode (n.1), but the grammatical and musical (1590s) usages of it influenced the meaning of mood (n.1) in phrases such as light-hearted mood.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
mood in Medicine

mood

[mōōd]

n.

A state of mind or emotion.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Idioms and Phrases with mood

mood

see in a bad mood; in the mood.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.