mantra
Americannoun
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Hinduism. a word or formula, as from the Veda, chanted or sung as an incantation or prayer.
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an often repeated word, formula, or phrase, often a truism.
If I hear the “less is more” mantra one more time, I'll scream.
noun
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Hinduism any of those parts of the Vedic literature which consist of the metrical psalms of praise
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Hinduism Buddhism any sacred word or syllable used as an object of concentration and embodying some aspect of spiritual power
Other Word Forms
- mantric adjective
Etymology
Origin of mantra
Borrowed into English from Sanskrit around 1800–10
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.
The mantra “if it bleeds, it leads” has been, at best, a mixed bag for media over many decades.
From Slate • Apr. 7, 2026
"I put less pressure on myself. It's been trying, but sticking to that mantra has really helped me."
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026
An old mantra reasserts itself once more: “As the consumer goes, so goes the U.S. economy.”
From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026
“It’s playing on that sort of mantra thing, where it’s just this one thing going over and over, going round and round,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
For just this reason, as they struggled to regain their form the Washington freshmen came up with a mantra that their coxswain, George Morry, chanted as they rowed.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions 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.
