Mot
noun
A witty or clever remark, often short.
He's known for his clever mots at parties.
Often appears as...
- bon mot
- mot juste
noun
A single word.
The mot 'love' has many meanings.
Usage tips
Formal, Neutral
Academic
noun
A witty or clever remark, often short.
He's known for his clever mots at parties.
Often appears as...
- bon mot
- mot juste
noun
A single word.
The mot 'love' has many meanings.
Usage tips
Formal, Neutral
Academic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Social Charm
Used to impress or amuse in social situations, 'mot' adds a sophisticated touch.
His mot drew laughter from the entire dinner table.
Pro Tip 2/3Use Sparingly
Overuse can seem forced. Deliver a 'mot' naturally for greater effect.
Awaiting his moment, he delivered the perfect mot.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Wit
'Mot' carries a cultural connotation of French or intellectual wit.
Her mot echoed the finesse of a Parisian salon.
Pro Tip 1/3Social Charm
Used to impress or amuse in social situations, 'mot' adds a sophisticated touch.
His mot drew laughter from the entire dinner table.
Pro Tip 2/3Use Sparingly
Overuse can seem forced. Deliver a 'mot' naturally for greater effect.
Awaiting his moment, he delivered the perfect mot.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Wit
'Mot' carries a cultural connotation of French or intellectual wit.
Her mot echoed the finesse of a Parisian salon.
Pro Tip 1/3Social Charm
Used to impress or amuse in social situations, 'mot' adds a sophisticated touch.
His mot drew laughter from the entire dinner table.
Pro Tip 2/3Use Sparingly
Overuse can seem forced. Deliver a 'mot' naturally for greater effect.
Awaiting his moment, he delivered the perfect mot.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Wit
'Mot' carries a cultural connotation of French or intellectual wit.
Her mot echoed the finesse of a Parisian salon.
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Video examples
Visualizing the medical...
activated in the back of the head because that's where he's seeing he's seeing his own brain and it's also hearing our instructions when we tell him to do things the signal is really deep inside of the brain as well and it's shining through because all of the data is inside of this volume and in just a second here you will see ok here mots ok now move your left foot okay so
Video examples
Cliff Jumping PIPE National...
of kilowatts are nesting on the sheer rock cliffs far beyond the reach of predators now here's the daredevil part the Gila mots are more at home in the ocean and on the cliffs the chicks have hatched and they have to fly to that
Video examples
Seagulls and Guillemots...
Guillemots are all here to take advantage of the schools of young herring living in these inland waters the Gila mots are expert underwater hunters and can easily dive up to a
Video examples
Visualizing the medical...
activated in the back of the head because that's where he's seeing he's seeing his own brain and it's also hearing our instructions when we tell him to do things the signal is really deep inside of the brain as well and it's shining through because all of the data is inside of this volume and in just a second here you will see ok here mots ok now move your left foot okay so
Video examples
Cliff Jumping PIPE National...
of kilowatts are nesting on the sheer rock cliffs far beyond the reach of predators now here's the daredevil part the Gila mots are more at home in the ocean and on the cliffs the chicks have hatched and they have to fly to that
Video examples
Seagulls and Guillemots...
Guillemots are all here to take advantage of the schools of young herring living in these inland waters the Gila mots are expert underwater hunters and can easily dive up to a
Example 1 of 3
Quote examples
Nancy Kress
American Writer
Before the scene, before the paragraph, even before the sentence, comes the word. Individual words and phrases are the building blocks of fiction, the genes that generate everything else. Use the right words, and your fiction can blossom. The French have a phrase for it - le mot juste - the exact right word in the exact right position.
Quote examples
Said Sayrafiezadeh
American Playwright
The daily quota I've set for myself is 500 words or approximately a page and a half double-spaced. Which isn't much, except that I'm extremely slow, extremely meticulous. 'Le mot juste' haunts me. On a good day, I will finally secrete the 500th word at about 5 o'clock, and I'll reward myself by going to Housing Works Bookstore to read.
Quote examples
Geraldine Brooks
Australian Journalist
I was a news reporter for 16 years, seven of them a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. Perhaps the most useful equipment I acquired in that time is a lack of preciousness about the act of writing. A reporter must write. There must be a story. The mot juste unarriving? Tell that to your desk.
Quote examples
Jane Leavy
American Writer
Wherever Mantle went in the great metropolis - Danny's Hideaway, the Latin Quarter, the '21' Club, the Stork Club, El Morocco, Toots Shor's - his preferred drink was waiting when he walked through the door. Reporters waited at his locker for monosyllabic bons mots. Boys clustered by the players' gate, hoping to touch him.
Quote examples
Tim Minchin
Australian Comedian
The Internet now is completely full of memes, and it's interesting, the idea that instead of having a sign crotched on your door or a magnet on your fridge saying whatever cliches and bon mots, pictures laid out with some text are passed around and move really fast.
Quote examples
Rabih Alameddine
Lebanese Artist
All living languages are promiscuous. We promiscuous speakers shamelessly shoplift words, plucking bons mots and phrases from any tempting language. We wear these words when we wish to be more formal, more elegant, more mysterious, worldly, precise, vague.
Quote examples
Theodore Zeldin
English Philosopher
So much of what passes for conversation today is degraded. It's either about one-upmanship, or dreary trivia. Even the cut and thrust of wit and bons mots is a form of bedazzlement designed to stop conversations dead rather than broaden them.
Quote examples
Harold E. Varmus
American Scientist
I had learned of Gertrude Stein's bon mot that medicine opened all doors. This prompted me, in different moods, to view my future life as literary psychiatrist, globe-trotting tropical disease specialist, or academic internist.
Quote examples
Nancy Kress
American Writer
Before the scene, before the paragraph, even before the sentence, comes the word. Individual words and phrases are the building blocks of fiction, the genes that generate everything else. Use the right words, and your fiction can blossom. The French have a phrase for it - le mot juste - the exact right word in the exact right position.
Quote examples
Said Sayrafiezadeh
American Playwright
The daily quota I've set for myself is 500 words or approximately a page and a half double-spaced. Which isn't much, except that I'm extremely slow, extremely meticulous. 'Le mot juste' haunts me. On a good day, I will finally secrete the 500th word at about 5 o'clock, and I'll reward myself by going to Housing Works Bookstore to read.
Quote examples
Geraldine Brooks
Australian Journalist
I was a news reporter for 16 years, seven of them a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. Perhaps the most useful equipment I acquired in that time is a lack of preciousness about the act of writing. A reporter must write. There must be a story. The mot juste unarriving? Tell that to your desk.
Quote examples
Jane Leavy
American Writer
Wherever Mantle went in the great metropolis - Danny's Hideaway, the Latin Quarter, the '21' Club, the Stork Club, El Morocco, Toots Shor's - his preferred drink was waiting when he walked through the door. Reporters waited at his locker for monosyllabic bons mots. Boys clustered by the players' gate, hoping to touch him.
Quote examples
Tim Minchin
Australian Comedian
The Internet now is completely full of memes, and it's interesting, the idea that instead of having a sign crotched on your door or a magnet on your fridge saying whatever cliches and bon mots, pictures laid out with some text are passed around and move really fast.
Quote examples
Rabih Alameddine
Lebanese Artist
All living languages are promiscuous. We promiscuous speakers shamelessly shoplift words, plucking bons mots and phrases from any tempting language. We wear these words when we wish to be more formal, more elegant, more mysterious, worldly, precise, vague.
Quote examples
Theodore Zeldin
English Philosopher
So much of what passes for conversation today is degraded. It's either about one-upmanship, or dreary trivia. Even the cut and thrust of wit and bons mots is a form of bedazzlement designed to stop conversations dead rather than broaden them.
Quote examples
Harold E. Varmus
American Scientist
I had learned of Gertrude Stein's bon mot that medicine opened all doors. This prompted me, in different moods, to view my future life as literary psychiatrist, globe-trotting tropical disease specialist, or academic internist.
Example 1 of 8
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