moot

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

moot, v. 

 See 1st Mot.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

moot, n. 

 A ring for gauging wooden pins.  [1913 Webster]

moot, v. t. [OE. moten, motien, AS. mōtan to meet or assemble for conversation, to discuss, dispute, fr. mōt, gemōt, a meeting, an assembly; akin to Icel. mōt, MHG. muoz. Cf. Meet to come together.].

•  To argue for and against; to debate; to discuss; to propose for discussion.  [1913 Webster]

  "A problem which hardly has been mentioned, much less mooted, in this country."  [1913 Webster]
•  Specifically: To discuss by way of exercise; to argue for practice; to propound and discuss in a mock court.  [1913 Webster]

  "First a case is appointed to be mooted by certain young men, containing some doubtful controversy."  [1913 Webster]
•  To render inconsequential, as having no effect on the practical outcome; to render academic; as, the ruling that the law was invalid mooted the question of whether he actually violated it.  [PJC]

moot, v. i. 

 To argue or plead in a supposed case.  [1913 Webster]
"There is a difference between mooting and pleading; between fencing and fighting."  [1913 Webster]

moot, n. [AS. mōt, gemōt, a meeting; -- usually in comp.].

•  A meeting for discussion and deliberation; esp., a meeting of the people of a village or district, in Anglo-Saxon times, for the discussion and settlement of matters of common interest; -- usually in composition; as, folk-moot.  J. R. Green.  [1913 Webster]
•  A discussion or debate; especially, a discussion of fictitious causes by way of practice.  [1913 Webster]

  "The pleading used in courts and chancery called moots."  [1913 Webster]

Moot case, a case or question to be mooted; a disputable case; an unsettled question. Dryden. -- Moot court, a mock court, such as is held by students of law for practicing the conduct of law cases. -- Moot point, a point or question to be debated; a doubtful question. -- to make moot v. t. to render moot{2}; to moot{3}.

moot, a. 

•  Subject, or open, to argument or discussion; undecided; debatable; mooted.  [1913 Webster]
•  Of purely theoretical or academic interest; having no practical consequence; as, the team won in spite of the bad call, and whether the ruling was correct is a moot question.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

moot, adj., v., & n.
--adj. (orig. the noun used attrib.)
1 debatable, undecided (a moot point).
2 US Law having no practical significance.
--v.tr. raise (a question) for discussion.
--n.
1 hist. an assembly.
2 Law a discussion of a hypothetical case as an academic exercise.

Etymology

OE mot, and motian converse, f. Gmc, rel. to MEET(1)

THESAURUS

moot

abstract, academic, advance, agitate, arguable, argue, argufy, armchair, at issue, bandy words, bicker, bring before, bring forward, bring up, broach, canvass, cavil, choplogic, commend to attention, confutable, confuted, conjectural, contend, contest, contestable, contested, controversial, controvertible, cross swords, cut and thrust, debatable, debate, deniable, disbelieved, discept, discredited, disputable, dispute, disputed, doubtable, doubted, doubtful, dubious, dubitable, exploded, give and take, hassle, have it out, hypothetic, ideal, iffy, impractical, in dispute, in doubt, in dubio, in question, indefinite, introduce, join issue, launch, lay before, lock horns, logomachize, make a motion, mistakable, mistrusted, move, notional, offer a resolution, open to doubt, open to question, open up, pettifog, plead, polemicize, polemize, pose, posit, postulate, postulatory, prefer, problematic, problematical, proffer, propose, proposition, propound, put forth, put forward, put it to, questionable, questioned, quibble, recommend, refutable, set before, set forth, spar, speculative, start, submit, suggest, suppositional, suspect, suspected, suspicious, take sides, theoretical, thrash out, try conclusions, uncertain, undecided, under a cloud, under suspicion, undetermined, unresolved, unsettled, ventilate, wrangle

ROGET THESAURUS

moot

Inquiry

N inquiry, request, search, research, quest, pursuit, examination, review, scrutiny, investigation, indagation, perquisition, perscrutation, pervestigation, inquest, inquisition, exploration, exploitation, ventilation, sifting, calculation, analysis, dissection, resolution, induction, Baconian method, strict inquiry, close inquiry, searching inquiry, exhaustive inquiry, narrow search, strict search, study, scire facias, ad referendum, trial, questioning, interrogation, interrogatory, interpellation, challenge, examination, cross-examination, catechism, feeler, Socratic method, zetetic philosophy, leading question, discussion, reconnoitering, reconnaissance, prying, espionage, espionnage, domiciliary visit, peep behind the curtain, lantern of Diogenes, question, query, problem, desideratum, point to be solved, porism, subject of inquiry, field of inquiry, subject of controversy, point in dispute, matter in dispute, moot point, issue, question at issue, bone of contention, plain question, fair question, open question, enigma, knotty point, quodlibet, threshold of an inquiry, inquirer, investigator, inquisitor, inspector, querist, examiner, catechist, scrutator scrutineer scrutinizer, analyst, quidnunc, inquiry, inquisitive, requisitive, requisitory, catechetical, inquisitorial, analytic, in search of, in quest of, on the lookout for, interrogative, zetetic, all searching, undetermined, untried, undecided, in question, in dispute, in issue, in course of inquiry, under discussion, under consideration, under investigation, sub judice, moot, proposed, doubtful, quaere?, what?, why?, wherefore?, whence?, whither?, where?, how comes it?, how happens it?, how is it?, what is the reason?, what's the matter?, nicht wahr?, what's in the wind?, what on earth?, when?, who?.

Reasoning,

VB reason, argue, discuss, debate, dispute, wrangle, argufy, bandy words, bandy arguments, chop logic, hold an argument, carry on an argument, controvert, canvass, comment upon, moralize upon, spiritualize, consider, open a discussion, open a case, try conclusions, join issue, be at issue, moot, come to the point, stir a question, agitate a question, ventilate a question, torture a question, take up a side, take up a case, contend, take one's stand upon, insist, lay stress on, infer, follow from.