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

Choudhury ruled on May 2 that Jeffries was mentally unfit and will be hospitalized for treatment and re-evaluated for up to four months. —Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 4 May 2025

Steering the cart is an obvious responsibility of her role, but navigating the course mentally is just as important due to the unpredictable players on the field. —Skyler Caruso, People.com, 2 May 2025

His trial was canceled after he was found not mentally competent to stand trial last September. —Dan Belson, Baltimore Sun, 2 May 2025

Can Charity, who is not exactly mentally stable, maintain the ruse forever? —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 2 May 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