Noun
After college, her professor became her close friend and mentor.
He needed a mentor to teach him about the world of politics.
We volunteer as mentors to disadvantaged children.
young boys in need of mentorsVerb
The young intern was mentored by the country's top heart surgeon.
Our program focuses on mentoring teenagers.
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Noun
In the finals of the 2025 King of the Ring tournament and a true dream match for WWE fans, Rhodes defeated his former mentor Randy Orton via Cross Rhodes in a strong show-opener.—Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 28 June 2025 Hayes, played by Pitt, needs to mentor the young hotshot Joshua Pierce (Idris) as the pair takes on a mentor-mentee relationship.—Nelson Espinal, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 June 2025
Verb
Onboarding requires a combination of mentoring, gradual exposure to responsibilities and reasonable time for integration while building psychological safety.—Naira Velumyan, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025 Additionally, funds are also being allocated for a new support staff mentoring program and a staff leadership academy.—Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 17 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for mentor
Word History
Etymology
Noun
as name borrowed from Latin Mentōr, borrowed from Greek Méntōr; as generic noun borrowed from French mentor, after Mentor, character in the novel Les aventures de Télémaque (1699) by the French cleric and writer François Fénelon (1651-1715), based on characters in the Odyssey
Note:
In Fénelon's work Mentor is a principal character, and his speeches and advice to Telemachus during their travels constitute much of the book's substance.
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