does the word modus operandi have a negative connotation 
modus operandi or m o was popularized in the context of criminal investigations suspects could be identified and captured based on understanding their usual habits hangouts and contacts because of that the phrase may still carry negative connotations that said a modus operandi can also be neutral or even positive when used to describe non criminal activities the bottom linemodus operandi refers to the typical patterns of behavior interactions and locales of an individual or organization from the latin meaning way of operating modus operandi can be used to predict outcomes based on these patterns of behavior and has been used by law enforcement and regulators to identify criminal activities predictive profiling can also be used by businesses to identify potential customer segments and create targeted advertising and marketing campaigns 