Obiter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Done or said casually or briefly without focusing on it in detail
2. Expressed in a way that is not central to the main point or subject
3. Mentioned or noted as an aside, not intended as the primary issue

Etymology: "Obiter" is a Latin adverb built from "ob," meaning "on the way" or "in passing," and "iter," meaning "journey" or "way." Its literal sense is something like "on the road," the idea being a remark made while passing by rather than stopping to examine a matter. English borrowed the Latin word directly, and it is used mainly in the phrase "obiter dictum," where it marks a comment a judge makes in passing that is not essential to the decision. The root "iter" is closely related to words like "itinerary" and "itinerant," which share the sense of travel along a path. So the word that now means casual or brief began as a plain description of movement, which is a useful reminder of how often Latin legal and everyday speech turned physical motion into figurative attention.

Synonyms: obiter dictum