Word.ws English Dictionary

motte-and-bailey

motte-and-bailey is the alternative spelling of motte and bailey.

Meaning of motte and bailey

Noun

motte and bailey (plural mottes and baileys)

  1. The predecessor of the European castle, having a raised earth mound (the motte) topped with a tower (or donjon), and a wooden ring fortification surrounding a courtyard (the bailey).
    • Should an inquiring stranger ask an Irish countryman if there were any "mottes" in the neighbourhood he might be met with unexpected but none the less unrestrained laughter, as in semi-slang the word has another meaning very far from that of a castle mound!1939, H. Lawlor, “Mote, Moat, or Motte?”, in Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 2, 208-210, p. 210
  2. (rhetoric) A form of argument and an informal fallacy where an arguer conflates two similar positions, one modest and easier to defend (the "motte") and one much more controversial (the "bailey"), by advancing the controversial position, but when challenged, insisting that they are only advancing the more modest position.

Forms of motte-and-bailey

pluralmottes-and-baileys

Questions about motte-and-bailey

What is motte-and-bailey the alternative spelling of?
Motte-and-bailey is the alternative spelling of motte and bailey.

Words near motte-and-bailey in the dictionary

  1. Motta
  2. Mottama
  3. Mottas
  4. motte
  5. motte and bailey
  6. motte-and-bailey
  7. mottephobia
  8. Mottershead
  9. Mottersheads
  10. mottes
  11. mottes and baileys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: motte-and-bailey (page history and authors); motte and bailey (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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