Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MODUS OPERANDI
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Back in 2008, I wrote a pretty cranky three-star review on Amazon for a book about vocabulary. I feel bad about it now, but you be the judge: was my crankiness justified? I had complained that the author wrote weird, idiom-laden sentences like this: "The modus operandi was leading up a blind alley and they were barking up the wrong tree."
I've always figured, if you're going to bust out a lengthy idiom or a heavy Latin term, let it be the sentence's only point of emphasis. That way, your sentence doesn't sound like it was cudgeled with a thesaurus. It's just my preference and my habit, my typical way of doing things. My modus operandi.
You'll recognize this term's similarity to words like operate, cooperate, and opera, since they all trace back to the Latin word for "work, effort, or labor."
So do two other terms we've checked out before. See if you can recall them:
1. Latin for "great work," a m____m opus is someone's absolute best work of art or other creation.
2. An oper__e thing takes a whole lot of effort or labor, and an oper__e person is busy and hardworking.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"MODUS OPERANDI"
This term is Latin for "way of operating."
A modus operandi, often abbreviated as MO or M.O., is a normal, typical way of doing some task.
Pronunciation:
MO duss OPP er AN dee
(Or, if you prefer, pronounce the last syllable as "dye" and say "MO duss OPP er AN dye.")
Part of speech:
Noun, the countable kind: "her modus operandi," "these modi operandi."
Other forms:
Notice how the plural is "modi operandi."
How to use it:
This term can sound formal when you say or write it in full--and it can sound very casual when you abbreviate. "That's my M.O., man."
Talk about the modus operandi of a specific person, group, company, party, industry, etc. Or, talk about the modus operandi of something nonhuman, like a drug, a disease, a bodily organ, a predator, a computer virus, etc.
Your tone can be neutral: "Internal competition is their modus operandi."
Or it might be critical: "Their modus operandi has always been violence." (In fact, we use "modus operandi" very often in reference to crimes and manipulation.)
Or, your tone might be complimentary: "His modus operandi is to sum up his opponent's argument with the greatest of nuance, accuracy, and eloquence before raising objections to it."
examples:
"Constant motion, literal and figurative, is [Rickie Lee] Jones’ modus operandi. 'I've always liked to run away,' she told Rolling Stone in 1979."
— Alison Fensterstock, The Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2019
"The modus operandi was to join a caravan and become accepted as bona-fide travellers themselves. The Thugs would need to delay any attack until their fellow travellers had dropped the initial wariness of the newcomers..."
— Entry on "Thuggee" (a type of assassin), World Heritage Encyclopedia
has this page helped you understand "modus operandi"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "modus operandi" without saying "standard operating procedure" or "habitual method."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone)'s modus operandi: (doing something in a certain way)."
Example: "Layla's modus operandi: approaching you with a whining mew, a preemptive purr, and a soft paw on your leg, until you stop what you're doing to pet her."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
In August, we're playing the time-honored Game of Venery!
We're inventing terms for groups of things: terms that James Lipton, the author of An Exaltation of Larks, calls "shards of poetry and truth." Example terms of venery include lovely ones like "a conflagration of fireflies" and silly ones like "a myopia of umpires," "a rash of dermatologists," and "an unemployment of graduates."
In each issue this month, I'll offer two templates. Have fun filling them in and sharing your inventions with your family, being as lofty, silly, or bawdy as you like. In each subsequent issue, I'll list the actual terms that appear in Lipton's book.
From the previous issue:
1. A bromide of _____
2. A _____ of the haute bourgeoisie (the upper middle class)
The terms listed in the book are "a bromide of greeting cards" and "an ennui of the haute bourgeoisie."
Try these today:
1. A ubiquity of _____
2. A _____ of playwrights
review this word:
1. A near opposite of MODUS OPERANDI is
A. VIVID DAYDREAM.
B. EMOTIONAL APPEAL.
C. EXPERIMENTAL STRATEGY.
2. In 1920, Harry Houdini published a book called Miracle Mongers and Their _____: A Complete _____of the Modus Operandi of Fire Eaters, Heat Resisters, Poison Eaters, Venomous Reptile Defiers, Sword Swallowers, Human Ostriches, Strong Men, Etc.
A. Muses .. History
B. Methods .. Exposé
C. Marks .. Compendium
a final word:
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I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
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Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Back in 2008, I wrote a pretty cranky three-star review on Amazon for a book about vocabulary. I feel bad about it now, but you be the judge: was my crankiness justified? I had complained that the author wrote weird, idiom-laden sentences like this: "The modus operandi was leading up a blind alley and they were barking up the wrong tree."
"MODUS OPERANDI" This term is Latin for "way of operating."
"Constant motion, literal and figurative, is [Rickie Lee] Jones’ modus operandi. 'I've always liked to run away,' she told Rolling Stone in 1979."
Explain the meaning of "modus operandi" without saying "standard operating procedure" or "habitual method."
Fill in the blanks: "(Someone)'s modus operandi: (doing something in a certain way)."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A near opposite of MODUS OPERANDI is
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