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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

"Yes," Hamlen answered, but with a mental reservation which his friend noticed,—"yes; and yet even that wasn't as I expected."

From The Bachelors A Novel by Orcutt, William Dana

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