mental
mental Lexical Profile
mental Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Relating to the mind, intellect, or cognitive processes; performed purely in the mind without spoken words or physical aids.
"She made a quick mental calculation of the monthly budget before agreeing to the purchase."
Relating to disorders or illnesses of the mind, or to their medical treatment and care.
"The community clinic expanded its services to provide better access to mental healthcare."
British Extremely foolish, erratic, or wildly chaotic; crazy or insane (informal).
"The traffic around the stadium on Saturday afternoon was completely mental."
Relating to the chin or the anterior portion of the lower jaw (anatomy).
"The dentist carefully injected a local anesthetic near the mental foramen to numb the lower lip."
Word Nuance & Usage
The word 'mental' is a homonym derived from two distinct Latin roots: 'mens' (mind) for psychological and intellectual contexts, and 'mentum' (chin) for anatomical contexts. In informal British and Australian English, using 'mental' to mean crazy or insane can be insensitive when referring to clinical conditions.
• Rhymes for mental
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the late Middle Ages from Middle French 'mental' and Late Latin 'mentalis', from Latin 'mens' (stem 'ment-'), meaning 'mind'. The anatomical sense relating to the chin was borrowed later in the 18th century from French, derived from Latin 'mentum' ('chin').