Dictionary.com
definitions

mental age

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mental age ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Psychology.

the level of native mental ability or capacity of an individual, usually as determined by an intelligence test, in relation to the chronological age of the average individual at this level: a ten-year-old child with the mental age of a twelve-year-old; a mental age of twelve.

RELATED CONTENT

What Are The Right Words To Use When Talking About SuicideWarning: This article deals with the sensitive topic of suicide.
READ MORE
Ultima Thule, Bandersnatch, And Other Trending Words On Dictionary.comThanks to the holidays, we're serving up two weeks worth of words that have trended on Dictionary.com! From Santa Claus to outer space, here's what had folks searching for meaning.
READ MORE

RELATED WORDS

IQ, ma

Nearby words

  1. mensural notation,
  2. mensuration,
  3. mensurative,
  4. menswear,
  5. mental,
  6. mental artery,
  7. mental block,
  8. mental cruelty,
  9. mental deficiency,
  10. mental disease
Compare achievement age.

Origin of mental age

First recorded in 1910–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for mental age

mental age

noun

psychol the mental ability of a child, expressed in years and based on a comparison of his test performance with the performance of children with a range of chronological agesSee also intelligence quotient
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
Medicine definitions for mental age

mental age

n.

A measure of mental development as determined by intelligence tests, generally restricted to children and expressed as the age at which that level is typically attained.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.