mote
1 Americanverb
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of mote1
before 1000; Middle English, Old English mot speck; cognate with Dutch mot grit, sawdust, Norwegian mutt speck
Origin of mote2
before 900; Middle English mot ( e ), Old English mōt; cognate with German muss. See must 1
Explanation
Say the word: mote. It's short and quick, isn't it? The word corresponds to its meaning, which is something tiny: a speck of dust, a bit of fluff, a speckle of gold in the prospector's pan. We're not sure of the origin of the word mote, except that it is related to Germanic words meaning "sawdust or grit, tiny dust particles." We think of a mote as the tiniest of objects, but astronomer Carl Sagan demonstrates a different perspective when he looked at a photograph of Earth taken from a great distance by Voyager I and said, "We live on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
Vocabulary lists containing mote
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Bless Me, Ultima
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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.
Bangladesh, one of the world's fastest-growing economies, has raised fuel prices by mote than 50% in just a week.
From BBC • Aug. 13, 2022
This does not grant Cheryl any closure or Kim a mote of absolution.
From Salon • Aug. 9, 2022
He noted that Jesus Christ, who was the original pundit, said to “cast out the beam in our own eye before we cast out the mote in the eye of another.”
From Slate • Feb. 25, 2022
The bee tugged diligently at a mote of the muck with her mouthparts, then carried it away.
From New York Times • Dec. 9, 2020
I do wish Titid would do something mote than forgive.
From "Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti" by Frances Temple
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.
