modus operandi

[ moh-duhs op-uh-ran-dee, -dahy; Latin moh-doos oh-pe-rahn-dee ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, plural mo·di op·e·ran·di [moh, -dee op-, uh, -, ran, -dee, moh, -dahy op-, uh, -, ran, -dahy, moh, -dee oh-pe-, rahn, -dee].

a mode of operating or working:
The aim of a scientist is to investigate the modus operandi of the natural world.
one’s usual way of doing something: : MO
A criminal’s modus operandi can give the police a lead.

modus operandi

/ -ˈrændaɪ; ˈməʊdəs ˌɒpəˈrændiː /

modus operandi

The way someone does something; a characteristic method: “Her modus operandi in buying a new car always included a month of research.” This phrase , often abbreviated “m.o.,” is used by police to describe a criminal's characteristic way of committing a crime. From Latin , meaning “method of operation.”

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First recorded in 1645–55; New Latin: literally “mode of working”

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C17: from Latin

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That seems to be the modus operandi as The League moves closer to the seven-year itch.

Each new creative wave that comes along seems to have to challenge the previous modus operandi.

Rubin echoed this message today, explicitly endorsing it as a modus operandi for the Egyptian military.

As always with CBS, if it's not broken, don't fix it seems to be their modus operandi.

But under the ad hoc rules of crony capitalism, the law counts for little and political hardball is the modus operandi.

Once satisfied that it was just and honourable, and it was comparatively child's work to arrange the modus operandi.

He had a modus operandi of making the conditional mood mean the imperative.

They might, too, have told us to advantage something about the modus operandi of "walking a plank."

The modus operandi is exactly the same as for the larger game.

As for the modus operandi of the fatty food, there is no certainty.

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