moot point
nounEtymology From moot (“assembly”) + point.
1
An issue that is subject to, or open for, discussion or debate, to which no satisfactory answer is found; originally, one to be definitively determined by an assembly of the people.
- In this age of moot points—some mooter than others, others possibly a shade less moot than some—perhaps the mootest point of any is, What is happening to the drama now that July 1st is behind us? This surely is a point of which the mootness cannot escape the most ivory-domed.1919 August, P. G. Wodehouse, “Prohibition and the Drama”, in Vanity Fair, page 21:
- Exactly which of the songs on Small Change originated in London is a moot point.2009, Barney Hoskyns, Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits, Faber & Faber, page 155:
1 more example
- It is possible that a special hawthorn grew on this hill hundreds of years ago and that it was a meeting place. Hawthorns marked moots, or assemblies to decide issues of local importance and manorial courts. This one may still be a “moot point” – something arguable, undecided, contested, its original function lost generations ago.2014 November 12, Paul Evans, “Burning red the hawthorn brings to mind moots and magic rituals”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
2
An issue hardly worth debating because it is no longer practically applicable.
- Until we rebuild downtown, whether we build more parking spaces is a moot point.
- Who really owned that horse is a moot point now that it has run away.
- Related terms
- non-issue