# Word for the day  modus operandi



## Josiah (Apr 30, 2015)

modus operandi
[moh-duh s op-uh-ran-dee, -dahy] 

noun, 
1.  mode of operating or working.

2. a particular way or method of doing something, especially one that is characteristic or well-established.

3. (law enforcement) A known criminal's established habits and mode of work when committing specific offences, especially fraud, matched with characteristics of an unsolved crime to narrow down (limit to a specific list) or profile suspects. Often abbreviated m.o. or MO particularly when referring to a criminal's MO.

The targeted killings of former Mujahedeen commanders in the north and tribal elders in the south mark a strategic shift in the Taliban’s modus operandi. [New York Times]


----------



## Ameriscot (Apr 30, 2015)

Heard this many times on cop shows and we usually hear it as MO.  For a long time I heard that it stood for method of operation.


----------

