mot
Americanabbreviation
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(in New Zealand and formerly in Britain) Ministry of Transport (in Britain now part of the DTLR) See DTLR
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(in Britain) MOT test: a compulsory annual test for all road vehicles over a certain age, which require a valid MOT certificate
noun
noun
Usage
What does mot mean? A mot is a clever comment or witty saying. Mot is a short way of saying bon mot, which means the same thing (and is more commonly used). Mot is also used in the phrase mot juste, meaning the exact right word. Witty statements, sayings like "history always repeats itself," wordplay, and famous last words are all examples of mots. Example: Shakespeare's plays are known for their memorable mots like "To thine own self be true."
Etymology
Origin of mot
1625–35; < French < Late Latin muttum utterance. See motto
Explanation
When you impress your friends with a witty observation or a funny quip, you use a mot. Your favorite teacher might be well known for her clever mots. If someone uses the perfect word or puts things in a particularly amusing way, they're skilled with a mot — short for a bon mot, or a "good saying" or "good word" in French. Mot is used in French to mean a "remark" or "short speech," and it comes from the Latin root mutum, "mutter" or "grunt."
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.
The character never has to search long for a bon mot.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2023
Citizens' Van Saun said the bank is also tightening its appetite for new mortgage credit, but that move is mot as dramatic as that for auto loans.
From Reuters • Jan. 30, 2023
Economists would point to the folly of a course of action, and he would pull out a bon mot or caricature them as “the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters.”
From Washington Post • Jul. 8, 2022
I’ve thought about that bon mot a lot during this movie season, where so many stars seem to be swinging for the fences.
From New York Times • Dec. 15, 2021
“Add the occasional bon mot and I’m in.”
From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed
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.
