mentality
Americannoun
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mentalities
plural
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mental capacity or endowment.
a person of average mentality.
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the set of one's mind; view; outlook.
a liberal mentality.
noun
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the state or quality of mental or intellectual ability
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a way of thinking; mental inclination or character
his weird mentality
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Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mentality
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How does mentality compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A mentality is a way of thinking or the ability to think and learn. If someone says you have the mentality of a kindergartener, that's great if you’re in kindergarten, but if you're in tenth grade, they're probably calling you immature. An obvious part of the noun mentality is the word "mental," which means "of the mind." How your mind works is your mentality, either in a way that's measured in school or testing, or in the way you think about things. A learned way of thinking comes from experiences; for example you might have a competitive mentality at mealtime because you share a table with nine brothers and sisters.
Vocabulary lists containing mentality
Farewell to Manzanar
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Ten Words from Today's Times - March 15, 2012
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Our America
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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.
See Examples For:
“That’s the mentality needed in terms of being an investor in Micron at this stage,” Chin said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026
All we’re here to do is have fun — and we see what that mentality leads to, right?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
And many sellers had a “here is my price, make me move” mentality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
"I kind of like the mentality we had in World War II, which was win, which was understand when the enemy attacks you, you need to stand your ground," Hegseth said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
That was the mentality among peasant farmers, Farmer said.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
"We mustn't get used to this eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth violence. We cannot allow Corsica to drift towards its demons, we have to change mentalities," he said.
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2026
Executing the plan requires rewiring mentalities, erasing almost a generation’s worth of habits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
But he seemed under no illusion that the violence can be eradicated without a bigger change in mentalities.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 30, 2023
There are some hateful mentalities not worth interrogating.
From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2023
They—and he—cared about one thing; this fusion of their mentalities oriented their attention on the hill, the climb, the need to ascend.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
