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mentor

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A wise and trusted guide and advisor.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

mehntawr

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈmɛntɔɹ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A wise and trusted guide and advisor

  2. A wise and trusted counselor or teacher.

verb

  1. transitive

    To act as someone's mentor.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A wise and trusted guide and advisor

Used this way, mentor is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Positive and appreciative
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use mentor

  • “The famous professor mentored him during his years in graduate school.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Wise / odysseus's

mentor teachermentor relationship

Other combinations

spiritual mentorformer mentorpolitical mentormentor programmentor bookgood mentor

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • mentationnounDerived noun · specialist

    The process of using your mind to consider something carefully.

  • mentaladjectiveDerived adjective

    Involving the mind or an intellectual process.

  • mentallyadverbDerived adverb

    In your mind.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.