moot

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 6, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>moot</strong> &#149; \MOOT\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><strong>1 a :</strong> open to question <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/debatable">debatable</a></p> <p><strong>b :</strong> subjected to discussion <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disputed">disputed</a></p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/deprive">deprived</a> of practical significance <strong>:</strong> made abstract or purely <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/academic#h1">academic</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>We thought of containers for anyone who wanted to bring home cookies, but it's a <em>moot</em> point now since they have all been eaten.</p> <p>"As Austin voters address the city's controversial homeless camping policies, a parallel debate is playing out at the Texas Legislature that could render the outcome largely <em>moot</em>." — Ryan Autullo, <em>The Austin (Texas) American-Statesman</em>, 26 Apr. 2021</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Moot</em> derives from <em>gemōt,</em> an Old English name for a judicial court. Originally, <em>moot</em> referred to either the court itself or an argument that might be debated by one. By the 16th century, the legal role of judicial moots had diminished, and the only remnant of them were <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moot%20court">moot courts</a></em>, academic mock courts in which law students could try hypothetical cases for practice. Back then, <em>moot</em> was used as a synonym of <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/debatable">debatable</a></em>, but because the cases students tried in moot courts were simply academic exercises, the word