Home1815 Edition

MUTUAL

Volume 14 · 83 words · 1815 Edition

a relative term, denoting something that is reciprocal between two or more persons.

Thus we say, mutual affiance, mutual aversion, &c. There are mutual or reciprocal duties, offices, &c. between superiors and inferiors; as the king and his subjects, the master and his servants, &c.

Vaugelas makes a distinction between mutual and reciprocal: mutual, according to him, is understood of what is between two only; and reciprocal, of what is between more than two: but this distinction is little regarded in common use.