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mutually

 - 4 dictionary results

mu⋅tu⋅al

  [myoo-choo-uhl]
Use mutually in a Sentence
–adjective
1. possessed, experienced, performed, etc., by each of two or more with respect to the other; reciprocal: to have mutual respect.
2. having the same relation each toward the other: to be mutual enemies.
3. of or pertaining to each of two or more; held in common; shared: mutual interests.
4. having or pertaining to a form of corporate organization in which there are no stockholders, and profits, losses, expenses, etc., are shared by members in proportion to the business each transacts with the company: a mutual company.
–noun
5. Informal. a mutual fund.
Origin:
1470–80; < MF mutuel < L mūtu(us) mutual, reciprocal (mūt(āre) to change (see mutate ) + -uus deverbal adj. suffix) + MF -el (< L -ālis) -al 1

Related forms:
mu⋅tu⋅al⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. Mutual, reciprocal agree in the idea of an exchange or balance between two or more persons or groups. Mutual indicates an exchange of a feeling, obligation, etc., between two or more people, or an interchange of some kind between persons or things: mutual esteem; in mutual agreement. Reciprocal indicates a relation in which one act, thing, feeling, etc., balances or is given in return for another: reciprocal promises or favors.

Usage note:
The earliest (15th century) and still a current meaning of mutual is “reciprocal,” specifying the relation of two or more persons or things to each other: Their admiration is mutual. Teachers and students sometimes suffer from a mutual misunderstanding. Mutual soon developed the sense of “having in common, shared”: Their mutual objective is peace. This latter sense has been in use since the 16th century and is entirely standard. It is occasionally criticized, not on the grounds of ambiguity but on the grounds that the later sense development is somehow wrong. Mutual in the sense of “shared” may have been encouraged by the title of Charles Dickens's novel Our Mutual Friend (1864–65), but Dickens was not the innovator. The fact that common also has the sense “ordinary, unexceptional” and “coarse, vulgar” may have contributed to the use of mutual instead of common in designating a shared friend.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To mutually
mu·tu·al   (myōō'chōō-əl)   
adj.  

  1. Having the same relationship each to the other: mutual predators.

  2. Directed and received by each toward the other; reciprocal: mutual respect.

  3. Possessed in common: mutual interests.

  4. Of, relating to, or in the form of mutual insurance.

n.  A mutual fund.

[French mutuel, from Old French, from Latin mūtuus, borrowed; see mei-1 in Indo-European roots.]
mu'tu·al'i·ty (-āl'ĭ-tē) n., mu'tu·al·ly adv.
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

mutual 
1477, originally of feelings, from M.Fr. mutuel (14c.), from L. mutuus "reciprocal, done in exchange," from PIE base *mei- "to change" (see mutable).
"The essence of its meaning is that it involves the relation x is or does to y as y to x; & not the relation, x is or does to z as y to z" [Fowler]
Mutual Admiration Society (1851) seems to have been coined by Thoreau.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: mu·tu·al
Pronunciation: 'myü-ch&-w&l
Function: adjective
1 : directed by each toward the other : RECIPROCAL <mutual orders of protection in domestic violence cases —L. H. Schafran and Norman Wikler>
2 : shared in common : JOINT mutual obligation to support children of their marriage —Louisiana Civil Code>
3 : of or relating to a plan whereby the members of an organization share in the profits and expenses; specifically : of, relating to, or taking the form of an insurance method in which the policyholders constitute the members of the insuring company —mu·tu·al·ly adverb
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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