Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A property of verbs in which the speaker's attitude toward the factuality or likelihood of the action or condition expressed.
  • noun A category or set of verb forms or inflections used to indicate such an attitude. In English, the indicative mood is used to make factual statements, the subjunctive mood to indicate doubt or unlikelihood, and the imperative mood to express a command.
  • noun Logic The arrangement or form of a syllogism.
  • noun A particular state of mind or emotion.
  • noun A pervading impression of an observer.
  • noun An instance or spell of sulking or angry behavior.
  • noun Inclination; disposition.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Mother-of-vinegar.
  • noun Mind; heart.
  • noun Temper of mind; state of the mind as regards passion or feeling; disposition; humor: as, a melancholy mood.
  • noun Heat of temper; anger.
  • noun Zeal: in the phrase with main and mood, with might and main; with a will.
  • noun A morbid or fantastic state of mind, as a fit of bad temper, sudden anger, or sullenness; also, absence of mind, or abstraction: generally used in the plural.
  • noun A state of mind with reference to something to be done or omitted; a more or less capricious state of feeling disposing one to action: commonly in the phrase in the mood: as, many artists work only when they are in the mood.
  • noun In grammar, same as mode, 3.
  • noun In logic, a variety of syllogism depending on the quantity (universal or particular) and quality (affirmative or negative) of the propositions composing it.
  • noun In music, same as mode, 7.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Manner; style; mode; logical form; musical style; manner of action or being. See mode which is the preferable form).
  • noun (Gram.) Manner of conceiving and expressing action or being, as positive, possible, conditional, hypothetical, obligatory, imperitive, etc., without regard to other accidents, such as time, person, number, etc.
  • noun Temper of mind; temporary state of the mind in regard to passion or feeling; humor

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a mental or emotional state, composure
  • noun a sullen mental state; a bad mood
  • noun a disposition to do something
  • noun a prevalent atmosphere or feeling
  • noun grammar A verb form that depends on how its containing clause relates to the speaker’s or writer’s wish, intent, or assertion about reality

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the prevailing psychological state
  • noun a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling
  • noun verb inflections that express how the action or state is conceived by the speaker

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of mode.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English mod, from Old English mōd, disposition; see mē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English mood, mode, mod, from Old English mōd ("heart, mind, spirit, mood, temper; courage; arrogance, pride; power, violence"), from Proto-Germanic *mōdan, *mōdaz (“sense, courage, zeal, anger”), from Proto-Indo-European *mō-, *mē- (“endeavour, will, temper”). Cognate with Scots mude, muid ("mood, courage, spirit, temper, disposition"), West Frisian moed ("mind, spirit, courage, will, intention"), Dutch moed ("courage, bravery, heart, valor"), Low German Mōt, Mūt ("mind, heart, courage"), German Mut ("courage, braveness, heart, spirit"), Swedish mod ("courage, heart, bravery"), Icelandic móður ("wrath, grief, moodiness"), Latin mōs ("will, humour, wont, inclination, mood"), Russian сметь (smetʹ, "to dare, venture").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Alteration of mode

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word mood.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Doom in reverse.

    July 22, 2007

  • Jane Smiley on Prozac.

    February 1, 2008