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

molder (en)

(verb) slowly decay or disintegrate, especially because of neglect

monachism (en)

(adjective) monastic

monad (en)

(noun) an elementary individual substance which reflects the order of the world and from which material properties are derived (coined by Leibniz)

monetarism (en)

(noun) a theory in economics that stable economic growth can be assured only by control of the rate of increase of the money supply to match the capacity for growth of real productivity

monism (en)

(noun) a view that there is only one kind of ultimate substance / (noun) the view that reality is one unitary organic whole with no independent parts / (noun) monogenesis / (noun) a viewpoint or theory that reduces all phenomena to one principle

monologic (en)

of, relating to, or characteristic of a monologue

monomania (en)

exaggerated or obsessive enthusiasm for or preoccupation with one thing

Mont Pelerin Society (en)

an economic think tank espousing neoliberalism (Milton Friedman, Hayek, etc); founded in 1947

montane (en)

(adjective) of, relating to, growing in, or being the biogeographic zone of relatively moist cool upland slopes below timberline dominated by large coniferous trees / (adjective) of, relating to, or made up of montane plants or animals

mooted (en)

(verb) to discuss from a legal standpoint; argue / (verb) to bring up for discussion; broach / (verb) debate

moraines (en)

(noun) an accumulation of earth and stones carried and finally deposited by a glacier

moral depreciation (en)

a Marxist term for a form of depreciation resulting from a new replacement providing greater use value (think technology)

morass (en)

(noun) marsh swamp / (noun) a situation that traps, confuses, or impedes / (noun) an overwhelming or confusing mass or mixture