Word.ws English Dictionary

mottos

mottos is the plural of motto.

Meaning of motto

Noun

motto (plural mottos or mottoes)

  1. A personal slogan.
    • You have to be in it to win it — that's my motto.
  2. A sentence, phrase, or word, forming part of an heraldic achievement.
    • ‘Gentlemen, I can tell you what the new queen will take as her motto. It is Bound to Obey and Serve.’2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, Fourth Estate, page 10
    Synonyms:
    device
  3. A sentence, phrase, or word, prefixed to an essay, discourse, chapter, canto, or the like, suggestive of its subject matter; a short, suggestive expression of a guiding principle; a maxim.
    • It was the motto of a bishop eminent for his piety and good works, ... Serve God, and be cheerful.1715 June 4 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 45. Tuesday, May 25. [1715.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob...
  4. (obsolete) A paper packet containing a sweetmeat, cracker, etc., together with a scrap of paper bearing a motto.

See all 5 meanings of motto

Forms of mottos

alternative formmottoes

Questions about mottos

What is mottos the plural of?
Mottos is the plural of motto.

Words near mottos in the dictionary

  1. Mottolas
  2. mottoless
  3. mottolike
  4. Motton
  5. Mottons
  6. mottos
  7. mottoware
  8. Mottram
  9. Mottram in Longdendale
  10. mottramite
  11. Mottrams

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mottos (page history and authors); motto (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-mottos.wav.

Cite this entry: “mottos.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mottos. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.