Mutual /(?)/

Mu·tu·al

Mutual

a.
  1. Reciprocally acting or related; reciprocally receiving and giving; reciprocally given and received; reciprocal; interchanged; as, a mutual love, advantage, assistance, aversion, etc.
    Conspiracy and mutual promise.
    — Sir T. More.
    Happy in our mutual help, And mutual love.
    A certain shyness on such subjects, which was mutual between the sisters.
  2. Possessed, experienced, or done by two or more persons or things at the same time; common; joint; as, mutual happiness; a mutual effort.
    A vast accession of misery and woe from the mutual weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
    Mutual, as Johnson will tell us, means something reciprocal, a giving and taking. How could people have mutual ancestors?
    — P. Harrison.

Phrases & Compounds

Mutual insurance
agreement among a number of persons to insure each other against loss, as by fire, death, or accident.
Mutual insurance company
one which does a business of insurance on the mutual principle, the policy holders sharing losses and profits pro rata.