Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1400-1500
Language: French
Origin: Late Latin mentalis, from Latin mens 'mind'

mental

 adjective
     
Related topics: Psychology, Psychiatry
men‧tal S2 W2
1 [only before noun]MP relating to the health or state of someone's mind [↪ psychiatric]:
The centre provides help for people suffering from mental illness.
Stress has an effect on both your physical and mental health.
2 [only before noun]MP relating to the mind and thinking, or happening only in the mind:
a child's mental development
You need to develop a positive mental attitude.
mental picture/image (=a picture that you form in your mind)
I tried to get a mental picture of him from her description.
3

make a mental note

to make a special effort to remember something:
Sarah made a mental note to ask Janine about it later.
4

mental block

a difficulty in remembering something or in understanding something:
I got a complete mental block as soon as the interviewer asked me a question.
5

go mental

British English spoken informal
a) to get very angry
b) to start behaving in an uncontrolled or excited way
6 [not before noun] British English informal thinking or behaving in a way that seems crazy or strange:
He must be mental!
—mentally adverb:
She's obviously mentally ill.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary