Mentalize

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To make mental in nature, rather than physical

    "It is interesting to observe, furthermore, that among the higher barbarians and civilized races, lust has become to a certain extent mentalized through hereditary memory and association."

  2. 2
    To understand the behavior of others as a product of their mental state

    "Specific impairments of mentalizing in both developmental and acquired disorders suggest that this ability depends on a dedicated and circumscribed brain system."

Example

More examples

"It is interesting to observe, furthermore, that among the higher barbarians and civilized races, lust has become to a certain extent mentalized through hereditary memory and association."

Etymology

From mental + -ize.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.