modus
Syllables: mo·dusUK/ˈməʊdəs//ˈmoʊdəs/
modus noun: the arrangement of, or mode of expressing, the terms of a contract or conveyance.
Noun
modus (plural modi)
- The arrangement of, or mode of expressing, the terms of a contract or conveyance.
- A qualification involving the idea of variation or departure from some general rule or form, in the way of either restriction or enlargement, according to the circumstances of the case, as in the will of a donor, an agreement between parties, etc.
- A fixed compensation or equivalent given instead of payment of tithes in kind, expressed in full by the phrase modus decimandi.
- To make a good and sufficient modus, the following rules must be observed1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC
- When, instead either of a certain portion of the produce of land, or of the price of a certain portion, a certain sum of money is to be paid in full compensation for all tax or tythe; the tax becomes, in this case, exactly of the same nature with the land tax of England. It neither rises nor falls...1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
Examples of modus in a sentence
- The tythe in the greater part of those parishes which pay what is called a modus, in lieu of all other tythe is a tax of this kind.1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations:
- They, from time immemorial, had paid a modus, or composition.1829, Walter Savage Landor, “Duke de Richelieu, Sir Firebrace Cotes, Lady Glengrin. and Mr. Normanby”, in Imaginary Conversations of...
Forms of modus
| plural | modi |
|---|
Origin of modus
Learned borrowing from Latin modus (“measure, manner, mood”). Doublet of mode.
Phrases with modus
Words that rhyme with modus
Questions about modus
- What does modus mean?
- Modus means the arrangement of, or mode of expressing, the terms of a contract or conveyance.
- How do you use modus in a sentence?
- The tythe in the greater part of those parishes which pay what is called a modus, in lieu of all other tythe is a tax of this kind.
- What part of speech is modus?
- Modus is a noun.
- How do you pronounce modus?
- Modus is pronounced /ˈməʊdəs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of modus?
- The plural of modus is modi.
Words near modus in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: modus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-modus.ogg.
Cite this entry: “modus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/modus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.