mentality
Americannoun
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mentalities
plural
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mental capacity or endowment.
a person of average mentality.
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the set of one's mind; view; outlook.
a liberal mentality.
noun
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the state or quality of mental or intellectual ability
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a way of thinking; mental inclination or character
his weird mentality
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Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mentality
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How does mentality compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A mentality is a way of thinking or the ability to think and learn. If someone says you have the mentality of a kindergartener, that's great if you’re in kindergarten, but if you're in tenth grade, they're probably calling you immature. An obvious part of the noun mentality is the word "mental," which means "of the mind." How your mind works is your mentality, either in a way that's measured in school or testing, or in the way you think about things. A learned way of thinking comes from experiences; for example you might have a competitive mentality at mealtime because you share a table with nine brothers and sisters.
Vocabulary lists containing mentality
Farewell to Manzanar
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Ten Words from Today's Times - March 15, 2012
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Our America
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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:
To the extent it’s heard from fans, it seems to reflect a “plague on both your houses” mentality among people who know they’re being mulcted by the system and don’t know who to blame.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
Captain Martin Odegaard discussed in his programme notes how the silverware had given the team "more confidence" and said the mentality of the team is not to defend their title, but to attack it.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
For some, this means moving more and requires a change in mentality around exercise.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
“I believe in the mentality of say ‘yes’ and figure it out later,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
“And too noisy. Mob mentality is running rampant in there.”
From "Made You Up" by Francesca Zappia
Executing the plan requires rewiring mentalities, erasing almost a generation’s worth of habits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 27, 2025
"Now we talk about mentalities because we won. And I don't believe in that. I defend the team when we lose and they had the same mentality," added Guardiola.
From BBC ● May 19, 2023
“There are different mentalities after winning and losing, and you have to understand that,” he said Thursday.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 20, 2023
There are some hateful mentalities not worth interrogating.
From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2023
They—and he—cared about one thing; this fusion of their mentalities oriented their attention on the hill, the climb, the need to ascend.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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.
