mooting
- 1Present participle and gerund of moot.
City officials have been mooting a tax on sugary drinks for years.
After mooting the case in class, the students argued it before a visiting judge.
Note
Moot adds -ing with no change to the stem, and the form carries every use of the verb. Officials mooting a tax are raising it for debate; students mooting a case are arguing it for practice; in American usage, a ruling mooting a claim makes it pointless. Context, not grammar, tells these apart.
- 2The activity of taking part in a moot court, in which law students argue invented cases for practice.
Her success in mooting persuaded her to become a trial lawyer.
Years of mooting had taught him to keep calm when a judge interrupted.
Note
The noun is old: Middle English had motinge and Old English mōtung. In the plural it once meant lawyers' arguing in general, and Cobbett's Parliamentary History of England sets the mootings of lawyers beside the reveries of pamphlets and the talk of coffee-houses. In law schools today it names the practice exercise and usually goes without a plural: she did well at mooting.
Showing meanings only.
mooting is a form of moot
moot, verb: To raise a question, idea, or proposal for discussion, or to discuss and debate it. Full entry
- Spelling
- moot → mooting: add -ing
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Origins
From Middle English motinge, moting, from Old English mōtung; equivalent to moot + -ing.
Formed from moot + the suffix -ing.