- Today's Word
Mores
MOR-ayz
Definition
- (noun – plural) The accepted customs, values, or behaviors of a society or group.
Example
Changing social mores have influenced how people view work-life balance in the modern age.
Fun Fact
“Mores” comes from Latin, meaning “customs” or “ways.” While some mores are written into law, many exist as unspoken social norms—like shaking hands in greeting or tipping at restaurants. Over time, mores evolve, reflecting shifts in culture, technology, and societal expectations.
(adjective) Of doubtful authenticity; widely circulated but almost certainly not true or not based in fact.
The tale of Washington chopping down the cherry tree is almost certainly apocryphal — a moral fable dressed up as biography and repeated until it became fact.
Apocryphal derives from the Greek apokryphos, meaning “hidden” or “obscure,” from apokryptein — “to hide away” — built from apo- (“away”) and kryptein (“to hide”). It entered English through the ecclesiastical Latin apocrypha, referring to biblical texts excluded from the official canon — writings considered of uncertain or dubious origin. From there it broadened into its modern sense of any story or claim whose authenticity is doubtful despite its wide circulation.