mantra

noun

man·​tra ˈmän-trə 

 also  ˈman-,

 or  ˈmən-

: a mystical formula of invocation (see invocation sense 2) or incantation (as in Hinduism)

also : watchword sense 2

"diversity" has become our multicultural mantra

—Manning Marable

mantric

ˈmän-trik 

 also  ˈman-

 or  ˈmən-

adjective

Example Sentences

a businessman whose mantra is “bigger is better”

Recent Examples on the Web

Those magical words ever on the lips of higher-ed bureaucrats are exactly the kind of official mantra that my theory professors in the 1980s told me to mistrust, critique and deconstruct. —WSJ, 14 Feb. 2023

Miami needed every bit of that mantra to hold off No. 20 Clemson 78-74 on Saturday. —Pete Iacobelli, Sun Sentinel, 4 Feb. 2023

Windsor Locks — Building confidence before the first games or scrimmages are even played appears to be part of coach Jim O’Brien’s mantra. —Steve Smith, Hartford Courant, 31 Aug. 2022

Lizzo and her mantra of body positivity proved a natural touchstone. —Thomas Floyd, Washington Post, 12 July 2022

But few had left, and more were arriving by the time Acebedo asked for a moment of silence while a Sanskrit mantra played off a smartphone. —Los Angeles Times, 4 Feb. 2023

Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat, on his recent trip to Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Eritrea and South Africa, met African leaders to shore up support with a consistent mantra. —Mary Ilyushina, Washington Post, 2 Feb. 2023

Yet the buy-local mantra risks ignoring other kinds of communities. —Christine Ro, Forbes, 27 Jan. 2023

In the years since, it has been drilled into Americans’ heads in schools, in workplaces and in private training sessions, a bleak mantra for a nation with hundreds of millions of guns and where mass shootings have become an ever-escalating plague. —Serge F. Kovaleski, New York Times, 25 Jan. 2023

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Word History

Etymology

Sanskrit, sacred counsel, formula, from manyate he thinks; akin to Latin mens mind — more at mind

First Known Use

1795, in the meaning defined above