Moriarty

//ˈmɔːɹiɑː(ɹ)ti// name

name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from Irish.
  2. 2
    Professor James Moriarty, fictional archenemy and nemesis of Sherlock Holmes; by extension any such archenemy or nemesis.

    "The town of Twin peaks, suddenly not energised by its mammary setting, is narrated as a large chess board on which the action is completely defined by the competing logic of Dale Cooper and his Moriarty-like nemesis, Windom Earle."

  3. 3
    A city in Torrance County, New Mexico, United States.
  4. 4
    A locality in Latrobe council area, Tasmania, Australia.

Example

More examples

"It lies with me to tell for the first time what really took place between Professor Moriarty and Mr. Sherlock Holmes."

Etymology

From Irish Ó Muircheartaigh (“descendant of Muircheartach”), a name from muir (“sea”) + ceardaí (“craftsman”).

Related phrases

new mexico

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.