metanorm (en)

a norm that requires people to punish transgressors of lower-level norms

metastable (en)

a term used by Sartre to refer to the state in which one is unable to take themselves or anything else seriously because of their acute awareness that they and the world are mediated by language

Metcalfe's Law (en)

the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system

metempsychosis (en)

the supposed transmigration at death of the soul of a human being or animal into a new body of the same or a different species

metonymy (en)

(noun) a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with which it is associated (as “crown” in “lands belonging to the crown”)

Mezzogiorno (it)

the traditional term for the southern regions of Italy

miasma (en)

a highly unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapor

midden (en)

(noun) dunghill / (noun) a refuse heap / (noun) kitchen midden / (noun) a small pile (as of seeds, bones, or leaves) gathered by a rodent (as a pack rat) / (noun) a refuse heap / (noun) a mound marking the site of a primitive human habitation

mien (en)

(noun) air or bearing especially as expressive of attitude or personality; demeanor / (noun) appearance aspect

Miesian (en)

(biographical name) Ludwig 1886–1969 Am. (Ger.-born) architect. style: very modern and angular and sharp

miglior fabbro (it)

Italian for "the better craftsman"; from the dedication to Ezra Pound in T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land; itself a quote from Dante's Divine Comedy

mimeograph (en)

(noun) a duplicator for making many copies that utilizes a stencil through which ink is pressed

mimetic (en)

imitation, especially imitative representation of the real world in art and literature

minatory (en)

(adjective) having a menacing quality; threatening

Ming China (en)

China under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty; characterised by orderly government and social stability

Minsky moment (en)

a sudden major collapse of asset values which is part of the credit cycle or business cycle, which will occur because long periods of prosperity lead to increasing speculation using borrowed money; named after 20th century economist Hyman Minsky

minyan (en)

a quorum of ten men (or in some synagogues, men and women) over the age of 13 required for traditional Jewish public worship

mire (en)

(noun) a stretch of swampy or boggy ground; (verb) cause to become stuck in mud

mise-en-abyme (fr)

term derived from heraldry; means "placed into abyss"

misericord (en)

(noun) a small projection on the bottom of a hinged church seat that gives support to a standing worshiper when the seat is turned up

misprision (en)

(noun; historical; law) the deliberate concealment of one's knowledge of a treasonable act or a felony; (literary) Harold Bloom's term for when strong writers misinterpret their literary predecessors so as to clear imaginative space for themselves

missal (en)

(noun) a book containing all that is said or sung at mass during the entire year

mistral (en)

(noun) a strong cold dry northerly wind of southern France / (biographical name) Frédéric 1830–1914 Provençal poet / (biographical name) Gabriela 1889–1957 originally Lucila Godoy Alcayaga Chilean poet & educ.

modish (en)

(adjective) fashionable, stylish

moiré (en)

In mathematics, physics, and art, moiré patterns are large-scale interference patterns that can be produced when an opaque ruled pattern with transparent gaps is overlaid on another similar pattern