menticide

M3E1N1T1I1C3I1D2E1

noun

Brain-washing, conditioning people to abandon their beliefs.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

nounmenticide (countable and uncountable, plural menticides)

plural menticides · alternative mentacide

  1. countableuncountableBrain-washing, conditioning people to abandon their beliefs.

    In the last phases of brainwashing and menticide, the self-humiliating submission of the victims serves as an inner defensive device annihilating the prosecuting inquisitor in a magic way.

    1957, Joost Abraham Maurits Meerloo, Mental Seduction and Menticide: The Psychology of Thought Control and Brainwashing, London: Jonathan Cape, →OCLC, page 87
  2. countableuncountableEfforts to destroy the mind or the will of an individual or group of people.

    I wanted then — and I want today — no laws against "mental kidnapping" or "mentacide" or any other socially unacceptable state of mind.

    1989, Fielding McGehee, Rebecca Moore, The Need for a Second Look at Jonestown: Remembering its People, Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press, →ISBN, page 151
    1 more example

    In response, black groups accuse school personnel of practicing genocide and "menticide" (miseducation) for allowing black children to get away with conduct they would not condone in white children.

    1974, Herbert Foster, Ribbin', Jivin', and Playin' the Dozens: The Unrecognized Dilemma of Inner-city Schools, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Ballinger, →ISBN, page 6

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Latin-cīdium
  2. Latinmēns“mind”
  3. Englishmenticide

From Latin mēns (“mind”) or mentālis (“mental”) + -cide (“killing”), from Latin -cīdium, by analogy to homicide, genocide, etc. Coined during the 1950s.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch menticide
  • menticidebrain-washing
German Mentizid
  • Mentizidbrain-washing
Cite this entry
APA

menticide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/menticide

MLA

“menticide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/menticide. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “menticide,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/menticide.

Source: menticide on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.