Usage Note:The adjectivemootis originally a legal term going back to the 1500s. It derives from the nounmootin its sense of a hypothetical case argued as an exercise by law students. The nounmootin turn goes back to an Old English word meaning "a meeting, especially one convened for leg...
By the 16th century, functioning judicial moots had diminished, the only remnant being moot courts, academic mock courts in which law students could try hypothetical cases for practice. The earliest use of moot as an adjective was as a synonym of debatable, but because the cases students tried...
of little or no practical value or meaning; purely academic. Law[Chiefly Law.]not actual; theoretical; hypothetical. v.t. to present or introduce (any point, subject, project, etc.) for discussion. to reduce or remove the practical significance of; ...