herd mentality

noun

: the tendency of the people in a group to think and behave in ways that conform with others in the group rather than as individuals
Stock investors, riveted by recent market gyrations, need to resist emotional responses and the herd mentality when investing …Ken Schachter

Examples of herd mentality in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Both saw intense hype, outsized capital allocation and a herd mentality. Salman Khan, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025 Fear, loss aversion, and herd mentality all contribute to panic selling. True Tamplin, Forbes, 21 Mar. 2025 Yet Wall Street often operates in a herd mentality. Paulina Likos, CNBC, 1 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1920, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of herd mentality was in 1920

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Cite this Entry

“Herd mentality.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/herd%20mentality. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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