mind
- (in a human or other conscious being) the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives, judges, etc.: the processes of the human mind.
- Psychology. the totality of conscious and unconscious mental processes and activities.
- intellect or understanding, as distinguished from the faculties of feeling and willing; intelligence.
- a particular instance of the intellect or intelligence, as in a person.
- a person considered with reference to intellectual power: the greatest minds of the twentieth century.
- intellectual power or ability.
- reason, sanity, or sound mental condition: to lose one's mind.
- a way of thinking and feeling; disposition; temper: a liberal mind.
- a state of awareness or remembrance: The poem puts me in mind of experiences both new and forgotten.
- opinion, view, or sentiments: to change one's mind.
- inclination or desire: to be of a mind to listen.
- purpose, intention, or will: Let me know your mind in this matter before Tuesday.
- psychic or spiritual being, as opposed to matter.
- a conscious or intelligent agency or being: an awareness of a mind ordering the universe.
- remembrance or recollection; memory: Former days were called to mind.
- attention; thoughts: He can't keep his mind on his studies.
- Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. notice; attention: When he's like that, just pay him no mind.
- Roman Catholic Church. a commemoration of a person's death, especially by a Requiem Mass.Compare month's mind, year's mind.
- (initial capital letter) Also called Divine Mind. Christian Science. God; the incorporeal source of life, substance, and intelligence.Compare mortal mind.
- to pay attention to.
- to heed or obey (a person, advice, instructions, etc.).
- to apply oneself or attend to: to mind one's own business.
- to look after; take care of; tend: to mind the baby.
- to be careful, cautious, or wary about: Mind what you say.
- to feel concern at; care about.
- to feel disturbed or inconvenienced by; object to (usually used in negative or interrogative constructions): Would you mind handing me that book?
- to regard as concerning oneself or as mattering: Don't mind his bluntness.
- Dialect.
- to perceive or notice.
- to remember.
- to remind.
- to pay attention.
- to obey.
- to take notice, observe, or understand (used chiefly in the imperative): Mind now, I want you home by twelve.
- to be careful or wary.
- to care, feel concern, or object (often used in negative or interrogative constructions): Mind if I go? Don't mind if I do.
- to regard a thing as concerning oneself or as mattering: You mustn't mind about their gossiping.
- bear/keep in mind, to remember: Bear in mind that the newspaper account may be in error.
- blow one's mind, Slang.
- to change one's perceptions, awareness, etc., as through the use of drugs or narcotics.
- to overwhelm a person with intense excitement, pleasure, astonishment, or dismay: Cool jazz really blows my mind.
- cross one's mind, to occur suddenly to one: A disturbing thought crossed her mind.
- give someone a piece of one's mind, Informal. to rebuke, reprimand, or scold sharply: I'll give him a piece of my mind for telling such a lie!
- have a good mind to, to feel tempted or inclined to: I have a good mind to leave you here all alone.
- have half a mind to, to be almost decided to; be inclined to.
- know one's own mind, to be firm in one's intentions, opinions, or plans; have assurance: She may be only a child, but she knows her own mind.
- make up one's mind, to decide; form an opinion or decision; resolve: He couldn't make up his mind which course to follow.
- meeting of minds, complete agreement; accord: A meeting of minds between the union and the employer seemed impossible.
- never mind, don't worry or be troubled; it is of no concern: Never mind—the broken glass will be easy to replace.
- on one's mind, constantly in one's thoughts; of concern to one: The approaching trial was on his mind.
- out of one's mind,
- mad; insane: You must be out of your mind to say such a ridiculous thing.
- totally distracted: He's out of his mind with worry.
- emotionally overwhelmed: out of her mind with joy.
- presence of mind, ability to think and to remain in control of oneself during a crisis or under stress: She had enough presence of mind to remember the license plate of the speeding car.
Origin of mind
Synonyms for mind
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comnever
- not ever; at no time: Such an idea never occurred to me.
- not at all; absolutely not: never mind; This will never do.
- to no extent or degree: He was never the wiser for his experience.
- never mind, don't bother; don't concern yourself.
Origin of never
mind
- the human faculty to which are ascribed thought, feeling, etc; often regarded as an immaterial part of a person
- intelligence or the intellect, esp as opposed to feelings or wishes
- recollection or remembrance; memoryit comes to mind
- the faculty of original or creative thought; imaginationit's all in the mind
- a person considered as an intellectual beingthe great minds of the past
- opinion or sentimentwe are of the same mind; to change one's mind; to have a mind of one's own; to know one's mind; to speak one's mind
- condition, state, or manner of feeling or thoughtno peace of mind; his state of mind
- an inclination, desire, or purposeI have a mind to go
- attention or thoughtskeep your mind on your work
- a sound mental state; sanity (esp in the phrase out of one's mind)
- intelligence, as opposed to material thingsthe mind of the universe
- (in Cartesian philosophy) one of two basic modes of existence, the other being matter
- blow someone's mind slang
- to cause someone to have a psychedelic experience
- to astound or surprise someone
- give someone a piece of one's mind to criticize or censure (someone) frankly or vehemently
- in two minds or of two minds undecided; waveringhe was in two minds about marriage
- make up one's mind to decide (something or to do something)he made up his mind to go
- on one's mind in one's thoughts
- put one in mind of to remind (one) of
- (when tr, may take a clause as object) to take offence atdo you mind if I smoke? I don't mind
- to pay attention to (something); heed; noticeto mind one's own business
- (tr; takes a clause as object) to make certain; ensuremind you tell her
- (tr) to take care of; have charge ofto mind the shop
- (when tr, may take a clause as object) to be cautious or careful about (something)mind how you go; mind your step
- (tr) to obey (someone or something); heedmind your father!
- to be concerned (about); be troubled (about)never mind your hat; never mind about your hat; never mind
- (tr; passive; takes an infinitive) to be intending or inclined (to do something)clearly he was not minded to finish the story
- (tr) Scot and English dialect to rememberdo ye mind his name?
- (tr) Scot to remindthat minds me of another story
- mind you an expression qualifying a previous statementDogs are nice. Mind you, I don't like all dogs Related adjectives: mental, noetic, phrenic
Word Origin for mind
never
- at no time; not ever
- certainly not; by no means; in no case
- Also: well I never! surely not!
Word Origin for never
usage
Word Origin and History for never mind
mind
late 12c., from Old English gemynd "memory, remembrance, state of being remembered; thought, purpose; conscious mind, intellect, intention," Proto-Germanic *ga-mundiz (cf. Gothic muns "thought," munan "to think;" Old Norse minni "mind;" German Minne (archaic) "love," originally "memory, loving memory"), from PIE root *men- "think, remember, have one's mind aroused," with derivatives referring to qualities of mind or states of thought (cf. Sanskrit matih "thought," munih "sage, seer;" Greek memona "I yearn," mania "madness," mantis "one who divines, prophet, seer;" Latin mens "mind, understanding, reason," memini "I remember," mentio "remembrance;" Lithuanian mintis "thought, idea," Old Church Slavonic mineti "to believe, think," Russian pamjat "memory").
Meaning "mental faculty" is mid-14c. "Memory," one of the oldest senses, now is almost obsolete except in old expressions such as bear in mind, call to mind. Mind's eye "remembrance" is early 15c. Phrase time out of mind is attested from early 15c. To pay no mind "disregard" is recorded from 1916, American English dialect. To have half a mind to "to have one's mind half made up to (do something)" is recorded from 1726. Mind-reading is from 1882.
mind
mid-14c., "to remember, take care to remember," also "to remind," from mind (n.). Meaning "perceive, notice" is from late 15c.; that of "to give heed to" is from 1550s; that of "be careful about" is from 1737. Sense of "object to, dislike" is from c.1600; negative use (with not) "to care for, to trouble oneself with" is attested from c.1600. Meaning "to take care of, look after" is from 1690s. Related: Minded; minding. Meiotic expression don't mind if I do attested from 1847.
never
Old English næfre "never," compound of ne "not, no" (from PIE root *ne- "no, not;" see un-) + æfre "ever" (see ever). Early used as an emphatic form of not (as still in never mind). Old English, unlike its modern descendant, had the useful custom of attaching ne to words to create their negatives, as in nabban for na habban "not to have."
Italian giammai, French jamais, Spanish jamas are from Latin iam "already" + magis "more;" thus literally "at any time, ever," originally with a negative, but this has been so thoroughly absorbed in sense as to be formally omitted.
Phrase never say die "don't despair" is from 1818. Never Never Land is first attested in Australia as a name for the uninhabited northern part of Queensland (1884), perhaps so called because anyone who had gone there once never wished to return. Meaning "imaginary, illusory or utopian place" first attested 1900 in American English.
mind
(mīnd)- The human consciousness that originates in the brain and is manifested especially in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory, and imagination.
- The collective conscious and unconscious processes in a sentient organism that direct and influence mental and physical behavior.
Idioms and Phrases with never mind
never mind
Don't worry about something, don't trouble yourself, it doesn't matter. For example, Never mind what I said, it wasn't important, or Never mind, you can always take the driver's test again. This expression employs mind in the sense of “care about something,” a usage dating from the late 1700s.
Also, never you mind. Don't concern yourself with that, it's none of your business, as in Never you mind where I plan to buy the new TV. [Early 1800s]
mind
In addition to the idioms beginning with mind
- mind like a steel trap, have a
- mind of one's own, have a
- mind one's own business
- mind one's p's and q's
- mind over matter
- mind the store
also see:
- back of one's mind
- bear in mind
- blow one's mind
- boggle the mind
- bring to mind
- call to mind
- change one's mind
- come to mind
- cross one's mind
- frame of mind
- go out of one's mind
- great minds
- half a mind
- have a good mind to
- in one's mind's eye
- in one's right mind
- know one's own mind
- load off one's mind
- lose one's mind
- make up one's mind
- meeting of the minds
- never mind
- of two minds
- one-track mind
- on one's mind
- open mind
- out of sight (out of mind)
- piece of one's mind
- presence of mind
- prey on (one's mind)
- put one in mind of
- read someone's mind
- set one's mind at rest
- slip one's mind
- speak one's mind
- to my mind
never
In addition to the idioms beginning with never
- never a dull moment
- never fear
- never give a sucker an even break
- never had it so good, one
- never hear the end of
- never mind
- never miss a trick
- never put off until tomorrow
- never say die
- never say never
also see:
- better late than never
- it never rains but it pours
- lightning never strikes twice
- now or never
- watched pot never boils
- wonders will never cease
- you never can tell