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.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
Fox also released a promo, above, for the new season, with Emmy winner Felicity Huffman joining the cast as Dr. Amy Larsen’s (Molly Parker) mentor Dr. Joan Ridley, who is now the new chief of internal medicine at Westside.—Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 22 July 2025 Of course, mentors, books and systems help, but the inner fire is what keeps you going when nothing else works.—Yasir Hashmi, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025
Verb
The goal shouldn’t be to import talent or extract ideas but to actively engage through open-source projects, mentoring relationships, co-building initiatives and shared platforms.—Daniel Jebaraj, Forbes.com, 10 July 2025 There are many ways to contribute: presenting, mentoring, helping organize or serving on the board.—Sonia Singh, Rolling Stone, 10 July 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.
Share