mentally

adverb

men·​tal·​ly ˈmen-tᵊl-ē 

1

: in the mind

Mentally he promised himself that he would never again use a collar on any living creature.

—Brian Jacques

: using the mind

able to mentally calculate large sums

2

: with regard to the mind or its capacity

physically and mentally healthy people

a mentally competent adult

a mentally challenging activity

… if you try to hide the fact that you feel mentally inadequate, and so go around making jokes about your own dullness and acting as if it didn't bother you at all …

—David Foster Wallace

I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.

—Rick Riordan

Examples of mentally in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Goncalves family is also frustrated with how little time they were afforded to mentally prepare -- and make travel arrangements -- for Kohberger's Wednesday hearing in Boise. —Kayna Whitworth, ABC News, 1 July 2025

Psychologists are only for the mentally ill, they’ve been told. —Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 June 2025

Pictured below on Friday, June 27, departing the Gritti Palace en route to the ring ceremony, Oprah Winfrey meets the very same boarding difficulty, while Gayle King mentally rehearses that big first step down into the bobbing motoscafo. —Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 29 June 2025

Sharply dressed in a dapper black suit with a matching black button-down shirt, the fourth overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft sat down on a plush couch inside Lowe’s Tech Hub and could mentally exhale for just a split second. —Roderick Boone, Charlotte Observer, 28 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing mentally

• mentally retarded

Rhymes for mentally

• accidentally
• detrimentally
• fundamentally
• governmentally
• incidentally
• incrementally
• instrumentally
• sentimentally
• temperamentally
• coincidentally
• environmentally
• experimentally