- mind#
- mind n1 *memory, remembrance, recollection, reminiscence, souvenir2 Mind, intellect, soul, psyche, brain, intelligence, wit are comparable when they mean the sum total of powers, often felt as a distinct entity, by means of which each individual knows and understands both his inner life and the external world and establishes effective relations between them and which are commonly felt as the distinctive possession of human beings.Mind indicates the complex of man's faculties involved in perceiving, remembering, con-sidering, evaluating, and deciding; it contrasts variously with body, heart, soul, and spirit{
the mind must have its share in deciding these important matters, not merely the emotions and desires— Rose Macaulay
}Mind may indicate the peculiar complex of a particular individual as differing from all others{the mind of a dreamer joined to the temperament of a soldier— Buchan
}Intellect, sometimes interchangeable with mind, may focus attention on the powers of knowing and thinking by which one may comprehend, consider, and conclude and especially the more coldly analytic powers, independent of and discrete from willing and feeling{the emotionalist steeps himself or herself in luxurious feeling and pathetic imagination, which makes no severe call upon either the will or the intellect— Inge
}{now the significance of Sir Thomas Browne lies in the fact that he was at once by intellect a force in the forward movement and by temperament a reactionary— More
}Soul (see also SOUL 2), used with considerable variation in meaning and suggestion, may indicate that principle which vitalizes, directs, selects, or inspires in matters emotional and volitional as well as mental{my inner existence, that consciousness which is called the soul— Jefferies
}{the soul is an intelligent, sensitive, and vital principle, a trinity which forms and moves the body predisposed to such action, as well as feels, thinks, and wills— Thilly
}Psyche may refer to the totality of self composed of all attributes, powers, and activities not purely bodily or somatic but definitely including the unconscious or subconscious{by the psyche I understand the totality of all the psychic processes, both conscious as well as unconscious; whereas by soul, I understand a definitely demarcated function-complex that is best characterized as a "personality"— Baynes
}Brain, often as the plural brains, may more forcefully than intel-lect focus attention on powers of individual comprehension or independent thought{it requires brains and education to follow the argument— Inge
}{have I ever even felt inclined to write anything, until my emotions had been unduly excited, my brain immoderately stirred, my senses unusually quickened, or my spirit extravagantly roused?— Galsworthy
}Intelligence is likely to imply specific ability to cope with problems and situations and may apply to exhibition of the play of powers of the intellect or comparable ones{had turned capable men into mere machines doing their work without intelligence— Shaw
}{wild ani-mals are not automata—they have intelligence if they lack intellect— Clarke
}Wit, often as the plural wits, may refer to a mind marked by inborn capacity, strong common sense, bright perception, or ready intelligence{the untutored natural wit of savages— Shaw
}{everyone had to be a jack-of-all-trades, everyone had to live by his wits— Brooks
}Analogous words: *power, function, faculty: *reason, understanding, intuition: wisdom, judgment, *sense, gumptionmind vb1 *remember, recollect, recall, remind, reminisce, bethink2 *obey, comply3 *tend, attend, watchContrasted words: *neglect, ignore, disregard, forget, slight
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.