Amodus operandi (often shortened toM.O. orMO;Latin pronunciation:[ˈmɔ.dʊsɔ.pɛˈran.dɪ]) is an individual'shabits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also generally. It is aLatin phrase, approximately translated as'mode (or manner) of operating'.[1]
The term is often used in police work when discussingcrime and addressing the methods employed bycriminals. It is also used incriminal profiling,[2] where it can help in finding clues to the offender'spsychology.[3] It largely consists of examining the actions used by the individuals to execute the crime, prevent its detection and facilitate escape.[1] A suspect'smodus operandi can assist in their identification, apprehension, or repression, and can also be used to determine links between crimes.[4]
In business,modus operandi is used to describe a firm's preferred means of executing business and interacting with other firms.
The plural ismodi operandi.[5][6] The wordoperandi is agerund in thegenitive case, "of operating"; gerunds can never be pluralised in Latin, as opposed togerundives. When a noun with an attribute in the genitive is pluralised, only the head noun normally changes, just as in English with "of": "a fact of life, two facts of life" (unlike, for instance,les modes opératoires inFrench).
The dictionary definition ofmodus operandi at Wiktionary