mindset
Americannoun
-
a fixed attitude, disposition, or mood.
His conservative mindset sometimes causes him to miss out on important opportunities.
Her judgmental mindset has cost her a number of friendships.
-
an intention or inclination.
I'm not sure what her mindset will be when you ask her about her plans.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mindset
First recorded in 1905–10; mind ( def. ) + set ( def. )
Compare meaning
How does mindset compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A person's usual attitude or mental state is his or her mindset. If you have an environmentalist mindset, you probably bring your own bags to the grocery store. Some examples of mindsets include an optimist's sunny perspective on life, a business owner's entrepreneurial way of thinking, or an Army general's military focus. Sometimes, a mindset spreads between people in a group and colors the entire group's outlook — psychologists call this groupthink. The noun mindset was first used in the 1930s to mean "habits of mind formed by previous experience."
Vocabulary lists containing mindset
"My Left Foot" and "Success Is a Mind-Set"
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"Mindsets in the Classroom"
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Everything We Never Had
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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:
"People are moving away from the traditional mindset that certain jobs must be tethered to a specific gender," Chen Ning, the 27-year-old founder, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
He had this proprietary interest in “SNL” as his baby, but if you think about the mindset of most Hollywood players, it’s always bigger, faster, more.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
“The shift in mindset taking place now is that defense has to be at the core and center of what we are doing,” Rutte said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
“The challenge is, can I keep standing long enough for someone to see me? It’s keeping an abundance mindset, not a scarcity mindset.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
Overkill was part of the same mindset, Denny told me.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
One of my favorite mindsets is the multiplicity mindset.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
That could partly reflect consumers’ differing mindsets with each format, said Giles Martin, executive vice president of strategy at Oxford Road.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
Well, concerns about AI overspending and hyperscaler capex feature prominently in investor mindsets as the No.1 tail risk and the most likely cause of a credit event.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 16, 2025
"Software mindsets don't work with hardware products, which need time to build," said Deepesh Rathore, who used to head product strategy at Ola Electric and now runs consultancy firm Insight EV.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2025
For the Athenians, tragedy offered moral lessons about leadership, justice and collective welfare, while comedy delivered irreverent critiques of politicians and popular mindsets.
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2025
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.
