Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A wise and trusted counselor or teacher.
  • noun Greek Mythology Odysseus's trusted counselor, in whose guise Athena became the guardian and teacher of Telemachus.
  • intransitive verb To serve as a trusted counselor or teacher, especially in occupational settings.
  • intransitive verb To serve as a trusted counselor or teacher to (another person).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who acts as a wise and faithful guide and monitor, especially of a younger person; an intimate friend who is also a sage counselor, as of one who is young or inexperienced.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A wise and faithful counselor or monitor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A wise and trusted counselor or teacher
  • verb transitive To act as someone's mentor

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb serve as a teacher or trusted counselor
  • noun a wise and trusted guide and advisor

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French Mentor, Mentor, from Latin Mentōr, from Greek; see men- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French mentor, from Ancient Greek Μέντωρ (Mentōr, "Mentor"), a mythological character in the Odyssey.

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Examples

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  • This word comes from the name of the wise advisor of Telemachus in The Odyssey.

    October 6, 2008