
[French mutuel, from Old French, from Latin mūtuus, borrowed.]
mutuality mu'tu·al'i·ty (-ăl'ĭ-tē) n.USAGE NOTE Mutual is used to describe a reciprocal relationship between two or more people or things. Thus their mutual animosity means "their animosity for each other" or "the animosity between them," and a mutual defense treaty is one in which each party agrees to come to the defense of the other. But many people also use mutual to mean "shared in common," as in The bill serves the mutual interests of management and labor. This usage is perhaps most familiar in the expression our mutual friend, which was widespread even before Charles Dickens used it as the title of a novel. While some language critics have objected to this usage because it does not include the notion of reciprocity, it appears in the writing of some of our greatest authors, including Shakespeare, Edmund Burke, George Eliot, and James Joyce, and it continues to be used by well-respected writers today.
That done, our day of marriage shall be yours, One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.—Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, v.iv.170–1.Until the 19th century, mutual was used with little difficulty in two main meanings: (1) that reflected in Valentine's words just quoted from Two Gentlemen, i.e. 'common, shared by several', and (2) another, slightly older, meaning defined as 'experienced or done by each of two or more parties with reference to each other', i.e. more or less equivalent to the much more awkward word reciprocal; this meaning is also found in Shakespeare: A contract of eternal bond of love, Confirmed by mutual joinder [= joining]
of your hands—Twelfth Night, v.i.154–5.Although the Old English (up to 1150)D gives copious evidence for phrases of the type our mutual friend (first recorded in 1658, i.e. long before Dickens used it as a title), our mutual acquaintance, our mutual opinion, etc., the 19th century grammarians decided on the basis largely of their Latin view of grammar and meaning that while 'the mutual love of husband and wife' is correct enough, 'a mutual friend of both husband and wife' is 'sheer nonsense' (Henry Alford, Dean of Canterbury, 1864). (How 'sheer nonsense' can be used of something that is readily understood itself makes no sense.)
On the whole even Marwan was pretty laissez-faire about a girl and a boy talking about subjects of mutual interest—Nigel Williams, 1993(the interest may not be two-way but the talking is.) Furthermore, anyone who insists on using common instead of mutual is not living in the real world: common has acquired so much ancillary meaning from the other work it has to do that it will almost invariably change or weaken the sense. So the recommendation must be twofold: (1) use common or joint (or, often better, in common or jointly) if it fits without any of its other meanings getting in the way and has the force of meaning needed, especially in cases where it may be significant that the action is not two-way (people facing common problems), (2) otherwise use mutual, whether there is explicit reciprocal action or not:
Wilde and Yeats reviewed each other's work with mutual regard—R. Ellmann, 1986
In the aftermath of their mutual suffering, a former British commando and a German opera singer's daughter found love, marriage and a joint desire to explain the significance of the events they experienced—Independent, 2004.
| mute e, must, muscle, mussel | |
| myriad, myself, ménage |
adjective
Definition: shared, common
Antonyms: detached, dissociated, distinct, separate, unshared
That couple finds tennis to be mutually satisfying so they play together often.
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Dansk (Danish)
adj. - gensidig, indbyrdes
n. - investeringsforening/-selskab
idioms:
Nederlands (Dutch)
wederzijds, onderling, gezamenlijk
Français (French)
adj. - mutuel, réciproque, commun, (Comm) mutuel
n. - (US, Fin) fonds commun de placement
idioms:
Deutsch (German)
adj. - gegenseitig, wechselseitig, gemeinsam
n. - gemeinsamer Freund, Investmentgesellschaft
idioms:
Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - αμοιβαίος, κοινός
n. - αμοιβαία κεφάλαια
idioms:
idioms:
Português (Portuguese)
adj. - recíproco
n. - recíproco (m)
idioms:
Русский (Russian)
взаимный, общий, соответственный, отзывчивый
idioms:
Español (Spanish)
adj. - mutuo, recíproco, mutual
n. - fondo mutual
idioms:
Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - ömsesidig, gemensam
n. - ömsesidighet
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
相互的, 共有的, 相互保险公司, 共同基金, 共同的朋友
idioms:
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 相互的, 共有的
n. - 相互保險公司, 共同基金, 共同的朋友
idioms:
한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 상호간의, 공도의
n. - 투자 신탁 회사
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 相互の, 共同の, 共通の
idioms:
العربيه (Arabic)
(صفه) متبادل (الاسم) مشترك
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - הדדי, משותף, מתייחסים זה לזה
n. - קרן נאמנות
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