First recorded in 1885–90
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It didn’t require a mind reader to decode the chief’s message.
From Salon • Oct. 15, 2025
Don't expect them to be a mind reader.
From BBC • Sep. 28, 2024
Nightmare Alley stars Bradley Cooper as Stanton Carlisle, a nightclub mind reader who becomes tangled up with Cate Blanchett as Dr. Lilith Ritter, a psychiatrist out to debunk him as a fraud.
From The Verge • Sep. 16, 2021
“And you don’t need to be a mind reader to figure out which is which. For one thing, you can ask John Bolton.”
From Seattle Times • Jan. 29, 2020
“You can’t miss school,” she says, like she’s a mind reader.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
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.
