mentally
Americanadverb
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in or with the mind or intellect; intellectually.
-
with regard to the mind.
Etymology
Origin of mentally
Explanation
Anything that happens mentally is happening in your mind. This adverb refers to brainy activity. If you’re mentally unstable, you need a shrink. Just as the adverb physically relates to the body, mentally relates to the mind. A mentally tough person is strong-willed. If someone is mentally unfit for a job, he doesn't have the brains to carry it out. A crossword puzzle can be a mentally challenging task. In the Star Wars movies, Jedi knights can mentally move objects just by willing it to happen. This word covers all the things that happen in your head.
Vocabulary lists containing mentally
Selection Vocabulary 4, Unit 4
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Kasich
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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.
“I was already mentally preparing to fly back to El Salvador the next day,” Barton recalled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
“Taking a dog out and doing a slow walk and letting them sniff is really mentally stimulating,” she says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
"We have to adapt mentally to a new way of doing in a new world of normalized growth," he said of Miu Miu.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Calum: Vrancken's been dealt a bad hand with little time for preparation and a squad and fanbase clearly mentally shattered off the end of last season.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Perrault knew dogs, and when he looked at Buck he knew that he was one in a thousand—“One in ten t’ousand,” he commented mentally.
From "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London
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.
