Word.ws English Dictionary

modus operandus

modus operandus is the misconstruction of modus operandi.

Meaning of modus operandi

Noun

modus operandi (plural modi operandi or modus operandis)

  1. (colloquial) A person or thing's normal mode of operation.
    • Failing that, if contact was absolutely necessary, a series of thumb jabs to the nerve cluster at the base of the neck would be his chosen modus operandi—quiet as a whisper.2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, pages 92–93
  2. 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.

Questions about modus operandus

What is modus operandus the misconstruction of?
Modus operandus is the misconstruction of modus operandi.

Words near modus operandus in the dictionary

  1. modus
  2. modus morons
  3. modus operandi
  4. modus operandis
  5. modus operandum
  6. modus operandus
  7. modus ponendo ponens
  8. modus ponendo tollens
  9. modus ponens
  10. modus procedendi
  11. modus tollendo ponens

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: modus operandus (page history and authors); modus operandi (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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Cite this entry: “modus operandus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/modus_operandus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.