How to Use modus vivendi in a Sentence

modus vivendi

noun
  • The two nations developed a modus vivendi in order to avoid war.
  • Mr Putin will try to push both sides towards a modus vivendi.
    The Economist, 14 Oct. 2019
  • In a saner world, the Yankees and Flyers might have worked out a modus vivendi.
    Daniel Henninger, WSJ, 10 July 2019
  • Pius, whose initial instinct was to find a modus vivendi with the new world, was mugged by the revolutions of 1848.
    David P. Deavel, National Review, 24 Oct. 2019
  • Both countries will benefit if a modus vivendi can be found that opens markets and sets new rules of the road.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 2 May 2018
  • The youth’s challenge is to figure out a modus vivendi with the tiger that does not involve Pi becoming a menu item.
    Don Aucoin, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Dec. 2022
  • The Republicans’ modus vivendi is to ignore that Trump keeps saying strange things that are not in the script.
    Jeet Heer, New Republic, 11 Jan. 2018
  • But Trump’s trade policies are threatening his modus vivendi with the GOP.
    Jeet Heer, The New Republic, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Even politicians inclined to be honest, observers say, are often obliged to forge a modus vivendi with the gangs.
    Patrick J. McDonnell, latimes.com, 10 Apr. 2018
  • That’s not shocking in Brazilian soccer: indebted clubs are a part of the modus vivendi and operandi.
    Samindra Kunti, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2021
  • Sometimes claims were backed with guns; in a few cases, squatter and owner worked out a modus vivendi of sharing the property.
    Nan Randall, The Atlantic, 25 Jan. 2018
  • Still Cuban officials were hopeful that a modus vivendi could be reached with the new administration.
    Patrick Oppmann and Elise Labott, CNN, 23 Sep. 2017
  • Something happened, and the agriculturalists shifted the modus vivendi, and the hunter-gatherers gave way.
    Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 17 Oct. 2010
  • Through the centuries, the two sides had worked out a modus vivendi, with inhabitants of the enclaves given right of passage so that, for example, Ms. Reijbroek can live in her apartment on the other side of the street, in the Netherlands.
    Thomas Erdbrink, New York Times, 6 May 2020
  • What does alarm me is the fact that, clearly, if the two Koreas somehow managed a peaceful modus vivendi on their own, some people in the United States would devote themselves night and day to screwing that up.
    Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 12 Feb. 2018
  • The deal was seen through an economic lens but also through a security lens, setting a modus vivendi between Tehran and Washington.
    Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post, 25 May 2018
  • Countries must find a modus vivendi, as Vitaly Portnikov says: equal countries on equal footing, living together.
    Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 19 Dec. 2019
  • The alternative to such a modus vivendi for Prime Minister Abadi is a capable Kurdish fighting force in a state of permanent insurrection.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 16 Oct. 2017
  • Of course, using an exaggerated Iranian threat to overcome obstacles to a modus vivendi between Israel and its Arab neighbors is nothing new.
    Trita Parsi, The New Republic, 20 Aug. 2020
  • Were negotiations -- promoted by the international community -- to restart, Hamas would be the loser as its modus vivendi is armed resistance to the Jewish state.
    Tim Lister, CNN, 16 May 2021
  • Neither the Russian government nor the population at large is able to establish a modus vivendi with the international community.
    WSJ, 17 May 2018
  • Despite the desperation, deprivation and decreasing opportunities, some Kabulis have tried to preserve some vestige of their pre-Islamic Emirate existence and forge some kind of modus vivendi with the Taliban.
    Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2022
  • Iranian negotiators genuinely interested in a modus vivendi would get a hearing in Washington.
    Walter Russell Mead, WSJ, 17 June 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'modus vivendi.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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