mote
1 Americanverb
past
mostenoun
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.
A third place to enjoy in Kent, according to the Frugal Mum list, is the award-winning Mote Park in Maidstone.
From BBC • May 29, 2025
A total of 52 sea turtles were flown this past winter to Florida, where they were treated by Clearwater Marine Aquarium, as well as Mote Marine Laboratory, Florida Aquarium and Loggerhead Marine Life Center.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 15, 2024
To help spot corals in trouble, volunteer divers are also being trained as reef observers through Mote Marine Lab’s BleachWatch program.
From Scientific American • Aug. 20, 2023
The pair, who were born at the Miami Seaquarium in the 1980s, had lived at the Mote Marine facility since 1996.
From Washington Times • Jul. 28, 2023
Don Pedro's designs, however, met with considerable opposition from the Conservative party in the Folk Mote.
From Strange Stories by Allen, Grant
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.
