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
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
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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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:
The 24-year-old, who's gunning for a historic quadruple win at the event this week, told BBC Newsbeat "the glam definitely helps that mentality because sprinting is such a confidence game".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
The movie was made with a spirit of creativity and fun and now that they are promoting it, there is a challenge in maintaining that same mentality.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
"Both can live together, my mentality and the moment of the project. I'm going to bring to the project whatever it needs from me," she added.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
As CEO, he has emphasized speed, he told me, and pushed for a mentality where teams benchmark themselves not against their history but against others.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
He would have a child’s mentality too, regarding likes and dislikes.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
Executing the plan requires rewiring mentalities, erasing almost a generation’s worth of habits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
"Unfortunately, my surgical placements were all with, let's say, school surgeons who would have different mentalities to what we have today," she says.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2024
“There are different mentalities after winning and losing, and you have to understand that,” he said Thursday.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 20, 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
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.
