Mote Meaning
/moʊt/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA small particle; a speck.
verbMay or might.
Sentence Examples
So mote it be!
One sees the mote in another's eye, but not the beam in his own eye.
CEFR Practice Quiz
A single ____ of dust floated in the bright sunbeam through the window.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A single ____ of dust danced in the narrow beam of sunlight that was shining through the small window of the dark room.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English mot, from Old English mot (“grain of sand; mote; atom”), from Proto-West Germanic *mot (“grain of dirt or sand, speck”). Perhaps linked to English mud. Compare West Frisian mot (“peat dust”), Dutch mot (“dust from turf; sawdust; grit”), Low German mut (“peat dust, grit”), Norwegian mutt (“speck; mote; splinter; chip”), Italian mota (“mud”), Spanish mota (“speck”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 7:5:
"What shall a Mote up to a Monarch rise?
An Emmet match an Emperor in might?"
— a. 1729, Edward Taylor, Meditation. Joh. 14.2. I go to prepare a place for you:
"I wanted to shrink myself to a mote of dust, plunge into this pool I held in my own cyclopean hands, soar down these runs of light to places where light itself was born from this colloquy of dust."
— 1979, J.G. Ballard, The Unlimited Dream Company, chapter 9:
"he […] kept aloofe for dread to be descryde, / Untill fit time and place he mote espy, / Where he mote worke him scath and villeny."
— 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
"‘I shall not take Vengeance into my own Hands. The Goddess will do what She will.’ ‘So mote it be,’ said the Grandmaster."
— 1980, Erica Jong, Fanny:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
A single ____ of dust floated in the bright sunbeam through the window.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A single ____ of dust danced in the narrow beam of sunlight that was shining through the small window of the dark room.