What's the difference between motto and watchword?

Motto


Definition:

  • (n.) A sentence, phrase, or word, forming part of an heraldic achievment.
  • (n.) A sentence, phrase, or word, prefixed to an essay, discourse, chapter, canto, or the like, suggestive of its subject matter; a short, suggestive expression of a guiding principle; a maxim.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Two years later, Trump tweeted that “Obama’s motto” was: “If I don’t go on taxpayer funded vacations & constantly fundraise then the terrorists win.” The joke, it turns out, is on Trump.
  • (2) Sitting at the table today, Archie is doing his best to look the part – in time-honoured hip-hop style, there is an inspirational motto tattooed on his forearm in flowing script – and he and Foster have an impressive line in managerial hyperbole: "We believe that whatever record label we work for, we can change that label for the better because we understand what kids want to listen to."
  • (3) The disease exemplifies the validity of the Royal Veterinary College motto Venienti occurrite morbo (treat the disease at its first appearance).
  • (4) Harry describes her as “a total kid through and through”, whose motto was “you can be as naughty as you want, just don’t get caught”.
  • (5) The phrase "time to water the tree of liberty" - a reference to a famous quotation from Thomas Jefferson, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants" - is also frequently used by a right wing group called Stormfront , motto White Pride World Wide.
  • (6) Brandishing images of what Virgin "lounges" might look like – similar to a stark yet trendy hotel restaurant – Gadhia admits that her other motto for running the business is "wanting to make everyone better off".
  • (7) "Our new motto is to help people feed themselves," Josette Sheeran, the executive director of the WFP, told China's state news agency .
  • (8) I used to be about fast food but now I’m about salad,” said Manuel Barra, 22, a star member of the the Green Leaf Killer team (motto: Ride.
  • (9) It incants the motto of the Bill Shankly school of cliche: that football is not a matter of life and death, it is far more important.
  • (10) Team GB has a motto, which has adorned the back of thousands of souvenir shirts at the park and beyond, "Better never stops".
  • (11) My motto is, it’s the council’s property, but it’s my home,” he says.
  • (12) He also adopted a motto he had learned in medical school: heal frequently, cure sometimes, comfort always.
  • (13) Back in the early 1990s, President Bill Clinton rode to power on the strength of one savvy motto: "It's the economy, stupid."
  • (14) Never knowingly undersold is a weak motto unless it includes never knowingly underpaying a workforce.
  • (15) Its official motto is Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life , but it is sponsored by corporate giants like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.
  • (16) The motto was used by Nazi Waffen-SS soldiers during the second world war and is banned in a number of countries including Germany and Austria.
  • (17) His appeal to the Labour party members tends to involve him brandishing his party card and affirming his loyalty to its motto: Putting power, wealth and opportunity into the hands of the many.
  • (18) Inspired by her motto, "You can have a job and a baby and style and a body", it's an eclectic mix of advice and tips from models, fashion insiders and working parents.
  • (19) His motto in recent days has been the words of US preacher Joyce Meyer: "You can't defeat Goliath with your mouth shut."
  • (20) (“What Hitler started the Corporation finished,” was the city’s motto.)

Watchword


Definition:

  • (n.) A word given to sentinels, and to such as have occasion to visit the guards, used as a signal by which a friend is known from an enemy, or a person who has a right to pass the watch from one who has not; a countersign; a password.
  • (n.) A sentiment or motto; esp., one used as a rallying cry or a signal for action.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He poses a far greater risk to our security than any other Labour leader in my lifetime September 12, 2015 “Security” appears to be the new watchword of Cameron’s government – it was used six times by the prime minister in an article attacking Corbyn in the Times late last month, and eight times by the chancellor, George Osborne, in an article published in the Sun the following day.
  • (2) Individualism – the assertion of every person’s claim to maximised private freedom and the unrestrained liberty to express autonomous desires … became the leftwing watchword of the hour.” The result was an astonishing liberation: from millennia of social, gender and sexual control by powerful, mostly elderly men.
  • (3) That will be the watchword of David Cameron’s Tories next week.
  • (4) The mantra of "fewer, better" will become a watchword across the BBC's output – as will collaboration with other broadcasters: a reinvented Call The Midwife is relocated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
  • (5) Instead of being held captive to words such as "rational suicide" or "euthanasia", what is needed is an acceptance of more contemporary watchwords such as autonomy and self-determination.
  • (6) The watchwords are suitably commercial: “strategic commissioning”, “market-making”, and “brand protection”.
  • (7) In private, the watchword remains "Hamburger Hill", the brutal 80s Vietnam war film named because Vietnamese bullets turned human flesh into hamburger meat.
  • (8) Indeed, "choice and control" have been watchwords espoused by politicians of all hues since the mid-90s.
  • (9) It would seem unlikely that Germany would countenance any of these measures in any way, and for that reason caution remains the watchword.
  • (10) Count the number of times you hear the chancellor and prime minister say “security”, their watchword and their excuse for all they mean to do, from brutal spending cuts to purchasing an armoury of foreign military hardware.
  • (11) Shopping will change beyond recognition, with “ hyper showrooming ” the watchword – shops will become “emotional destinations”, products hidden away behind digital screens, and heavily tailored to individual taste, guided by algorithms and ultimately our own prior behaviour.
  • (12) Patience, not aggression, has been the watchword of law enforcement ever since.
  • (13) Ruthlessness has become the network owners' watchword now, because the mobile phone boom they have ridden for nearly 20 years is over.
  • (14) Caution was the watchword, and both coaches were unapologetic.
  • (15) Security” is Cameron’s current watchword – “for families, for the country” – but there is no security for families forever on short private leases.
  • (16) The traditional core service in most places is essential support with personal care for people with long-term health and care needs, where the watchword is continuity of relationships, reliability and dignity.
  • (17) "Reform" was their watchword and they had one new article of faith: that the best proof of any leader's bona fides was the habit of loudly defining themselves against their own side.
  • (18) Except for a few tweaks that generally resonate more at home than with Germany's European and international partners (such as requiring the government to be more transparent concerning arms exports to autocratic regimes), continuity and caution will remain the watchwords of German foreign and security policy.
  • (19) One understanding holds "Benghazi" as a watchword for government malfeasance.
  • (20) "[We] propose a 'new union for fairness' whose watchwords are power-sharing, diversity and constitutional partnership, replacing the old union of centralisation, uniformity and Westminster's undivided sovereignty."