mentor

[men-tawr, -ter]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mentor ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.

an influential senior sponsor or supporter.

verb (used without object)

to act as a mentor: She spent years mentoring to junior employees.

verb (used with object)

to act as a mentor to: The brash young executive did not wish to be mentored by anyone.

Origin of mentor

1740–50; after Mentor (< Greek Méntōr)

Related formsmen·tor·ship, noun

Synonyms for mentor

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mentor ON THESAURUS.COM

1. adviser, master, guide, preceptor.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mentorship

practice

Examples from the Web for mentorship

Contemporary Examples of mentorship

Mentorship programs are also beneficial, and service providers should be trained in cultural sensitivity.
How To Help America’s Trafficking Victims In The Long Term
Ima Matul
June 23, 2014
His mentorship, kindness, and friendship continue to guide and inform my approach to life.
How Oscar de la Renta Made Me a Supermodel
Karlie Kloss
March 20, 2014
In the film, Sting is gifted to Bilbo by Gandalf in a moment of mentorship.
‘The Hobbit’: 19 Changes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Novel to Peter Jackson’s Movie
Anna Klassen
December 14, 2012

Historical Examples of mentorship

Charley did not put on any mentorship to us, and the more we saw of him the more we liked him.
Johnny Ludlow, Fifth Series
Mrs. Henry Wood
Let me try and tell him what, under my mentorship, he would mark and see.
Rome in 1860
Edward Dicey

British Dictionary definitions for mentorship

mentor

noun

a wise or trusted adviser or guide

verb

to act as a mentor to (someone); train

Derived Formsmentorial, adjective

Word Origin for mentor

C18: from Mentor

Mentor

noun

the friend whom Odysseus put in charge of his household when he left for Troy. He was the adviser of the young Telemachus

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

Word Origin and History for mentorship

mentor

"wise advisor," 1750, from Greek Mentor, friend of Odysseus and adviser of Telemachus (but often actually Athene in disguise) in the "Odyssey," perhaps ultimately meaning "adviser," because the name appears to be an agent noun of mentos "intent, purpose, spirit, passion" from PIE *mon-eyo- (cf. Sanskrit man-tar- "one who thinks," Latin mon-i-tor "one who admonishes"), causative form of root *men- "to think" (see mind (n.)). The general use of the word probably is via later popular romances, in which Mentor played a larger part than he does in Homer.

mentor

1888, from mentor (n.). Related: Mentored; mentoring.