mentor
noun
a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.
mentor
1 American
[men-tawr, -ter]
/ ˈmɛn tɔr, -tər /
Mentor
2
American
[men-ter]
/ ˈmɛn tər /
noun
Mentor
3
American
[men-tawr, -ter]
/ ˈmɛn tɔr, -tər /
noun
mentor
1
British
/ ˈmɛntɔː /
noun
verb
Mentor
2
British
/ ˈmɛntɔː /
noun
Usage
What does mentor mean? A mentor is the main person you rely on to give you advice and guidance, especially in your career. Mentor can also be used as a verb meaning to act as a mentor, as in I mentor two of my students. If you have a mentor, you are the mentee. Example: It feels strange to me that I’m now more famous than my mentor—I wouldn’t be where I am without her.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mentor
First recorded in 1740–50; after Mentor (from Greek Méntōr )
Explanation
A mentor is a person who trains and guides someone, like the second-grade English teacher who saw the spark of creativity in your writing and encouraged you to become a professional author. The original Mentor was a character in Homer's epic poem The Odyssey; Mentor looked after Odysseus's family, particularly his son Telemachus, while Odysseus was off fighting in the Trojan War. Today the word is used to describe any person who acts as an advisor or teacher. As a noun, mentor describes the coach who taught you to play baseball. As a verb, mentor is what the coach does to help you improve your swing.
Vocabulary lists containing mentor
The Hunger Games
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Monster
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You Name It: Eponyms
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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:
There had been some speculation that Takaichi, a regular visitor before becoming prime minister in October, might attend the shrine like then-premier Shinzo Abe, her mentor, had done in 2013.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
But Maresca, despite clearly being inspired by his former mentor, has his own style and one which we have started to see emerge across City's pre-season.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
His revered mentor, José Antonio Abreu, who founded the educational program in 1975 with the conviction that learning music can, in bettering lives, lead to profound social change.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Banderas provides his mentor figure with a delightful vigor, but Johnson can’t quite figure out what to do with him, or how to make Chef feel like a real person.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
“What kind of mentor would I be?” she asks.
From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson
The crew of the Mentor traveled halfway around the world before pausing to take on supplies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
Once it became clear that the survivors of the Mentor were American, the Ngarchelongese agreed to help them get home by building them a canoe to supplement their whaling boat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
In November 1832, eight survivors of the sunken American whaleship Mentor set out into the Pacific Ocean in a pair of rickety boats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
High-profile athletes have spoken about their decision to freeze their eggs, including England cricket captain Nat Sciver-Brunt and former England netballer Geva Mentor.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2025
Long before Garfield and his family boarded the train from Mentor to Washington a few days earlier, he had toiled over naming his cabinet members.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
He also noted that smaller institutions can provide students with direct access to faculty mentors and hands-on field research.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
Event 3, “To All My Teachers,” dove into how his mentors and peers brought their emotion into recommendations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
They have also called for a more diverse teaching workforce and more mentors for those at risk of exclusion.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
They are reliable and experienced, able to speed shoppers through a checkout line and serve as mentors to newer workers, passing down the company’s unique culture, Costco executives say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Some became trustees, mentors, and advocates against violence among inmates.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
