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 roster mentally healed from its slump first, thanks in part to Notre Dame’s spring break following the Duke loss. —Pete Sampson, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025

The idea of separating work and personal life isn’t just a science fiction concept—mentally clocking out is a daily challenge for many of us. —Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 26 Mar. 2025

After stealing a security guard’s gun (and his wife’s Lorazepam), the mentally unwell husband and father contemplates some violent solutions to his problem during a couple of vivid daydream sequences. —Glenn Garner, Deadline, 26 Mar. 2025

Both Patterson and Sugai claim the lack of a fair chance to earn a scholarship impacted them both mentally and financially. —Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 25 Mar. 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