25 Common Latin Phrases in EnglishThe old phrases that still earn their keep
English did not keep these phrases as museum pieces. It kept them because a few old words can still draw a distinction faster than a new sentence.
Latin can make a sentence sound exact or merely dressed for court. The difference is usefulness. De facto separates actual power from official title; non sequitur names a break in logic; mea culpa puts the fault in the speaker's own mouth. Each phrase compresses a situation English encounters often enough to keep naming.
That survival is not a license to scatter Latin over weak prose. Use a phrase when it is the clearest choice. Bona fide can sharpen a distinction; a paragraph crowded with Latinisms usually obscures one. The age of the phrase is incidental. Its efficiency is the point.
ad hoc
Meaning: for this specific purpose
Example: We formed an ad hoc committee to handle the launch issue.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesad hominem
Meaning: aimed at the person rather than the argument
Example: Calling the speaker lazy is ad hominem if it avoids the evidence.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesad infinitum
Meaning: without end
Example: The debate could continue ad infinitum if nobody defines the terms.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesad nauseam
Meaning: to a tiresome or excessive degree
Example: The point has been repeated ad nauseam.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesbona fide
Meaning: genuine; made in good faith
Example: She received a bona fide offer from the publisher.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplescarpe diem
Meaning: seize the day
Example: Carpe diem is not recklessness; it is refusing to postpone life forever.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplescaveat emptor
Meaning: let the buyer beware
Example: Private sales often operate under caveat emptor.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplescogito ergo sum
Meaning: I think, therefore I am
Example: Descartes used cogito ergo sum as a foundation for certainty.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesde facto
Meaning: in fact; in practice
Example: She became the de facto leader before the title was official.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesde jure
Meaning: by law; officially
Example: He was the de jure owner, but his sister ran the business.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesdeus ex machina
Meaning: an implausible outside rescue
Example: The sudden inheritance felt like a deus ex machina ending.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesergo
Meaning: therefore
Example: The premise is false, ergo the conclusion cannot stand.
Pronunciation, origin, and more exampleset cetera
Meaning: and the rest; and so on
Example: Bring a notebook, pen, charger, et cetera.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesex post facto
Meaning: after the fact; retroactive
Example: The rule cannot be applied ex post facto.
Pronunciation, origin, and more exampleshabeas corpus
Meaning: a writ requiring a detained person to be brought before a court
Example: The lawyer filed a habeas corpus petition.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesin absentia
Meaning: in one's absence
Example: The award was accepted in absentia.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesin medias res
Meaning: in the middle of things
Example: The novel begins in medias res, with the escape already underway.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesin situ
Meaning: in the original place
Example: The artifact was photographed in situ before removal.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesipso facto
Meaning: by that very fact
Example: Signing the contract made her ipso facto responsible for delivery.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesmagna cum laude
Meaning: with great praise; an academic honor
Example: He graduated magna cum laude.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesmea culpa
Meaning: my fault
Example: The founder issued a public mea culpa after the outage.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesmemento mori
Meaning: remember that you must die
Example: The hourglass on her desk was a memento mori: time is not unlimited.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesmodus operandi
Meaning: method of operation
Example: The repeated pattern revealed the fraudster's modus operandi.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesnon sequitur
Meaning: a conclusion that does not follow
Example: His reply was a non sequitur: true, perhaps, but irrelevant.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesper se
Meaning: in itself
Example: Ambition is not harmful per se; unrestrained ambition can be.
Pronunciation, origin, and more examplesUse the phrase, not the prestige
A common Latinism has already survived competition from plainer words. Learn the exact distinction it preserves, use it where an English paraphrase would be clumsier, and leave it out everywhere else.
Study Latin phrases