obiter
adverb, noun
obiter is spelled O-B-I-T-E-R: 6 letters. It appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 130,282nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, obiter means “Incidentally; in passing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in obiter?
| Letters | 6: O-B-I-T-E-R |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 19 million words; the 130,282nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is obiter?
Obiter appears about once in every 19 million words in written English, the 130,282nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Forms of obiter
- obiters plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does obiter mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
Incidentally; in passing.
I will not here stand to discuss obiter, whether stars be causes, or signs; or to apologize for judicial astrology.
noun
- 1
An obiter dictum; a statement from the bench commenting on a point of law which is not necessary for the judgment at hand and therefore has no judicial weight, as opposed to ratio decidendi.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does obiter come from?
Borrowed from Latin obiter.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).