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mental reservation

American

noun

an unexpressed doubt or qualification about a situation, person, etc.

mental reservation British

noun

a tacit withholding of full assent or an unexpressed qualification made when one is taking an oath, making a statement, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of mental reservation

First recorded in 1600–10

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Here’s where the book gets funny, shuffling through various 13th-century attempts to salvage dishonesty: equivocation, mental reservation, amphibology.

From Slate • Feb. 6, 2015

At that point, I made a mental reservation: 'What am I doing here?

From BBC • Jul. 29, 2013

At that point, I made a mental reservation, 'What am I doing here?

From Reuters • Jul. 29, 2013

"I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion: so help me God."

From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2013

The crisp response was not without significance to the younger man, and Harold Heathcote departed with the mental reservation that "even with Cabinet Ministers you never can tell."

From The Men Who Wrought by Cullum, Ridgwell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023