quality of character or temperament; esp., high quality of character; spirit; courage; ardor
Origin of mettle
variant, variety of metal, used figurative, figurativelymettle Idioms
on one's mettle
roused or prepared to do one's best
noun
- An example of mettle is a soldier's bravery.
- An example of mettle is a person who has spirit and courage.
Mettle is defined as a high quality of personal character.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"mettle." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Mettle>.
APA Style
mettle. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Mettle
mettle
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"mettle." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Mettle>.
APA Style
mettle. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Mettle
mettle
noun
The ability to meet a challenge or persevere under demanding circumstances; determination or resolve: a race that tested the best runners' mettle.
Origin of mettle
Variant of metal Word History: Not only do metal and mettle have exactly the same pronunciation, the two terms are—etymologically, at least—exactly the same word. Middle English borrowed metal from Old French in the 1200s; Old French metal, metail, came from Latin metallum, from Greek metallon, “mine, quarry, ore, metal.” By the 1500s, English metal had also come to mean “the stuff one is made of, one's character,” but there was no difference in spelling between the literal and figurative senses until about 1700, when the spelling mettle, originally just a variant of metal, was fixed for the sense “strength of character.” English has numerous examples of similar word pairs that are (historically speaking) spelling variants of the same word, including flour/flower and lightening/lightning.THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"mettle." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Mettle>.
APA Style
mettle. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Mettle
Origin
Originally a variant of metal.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"mettle." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Mettle>.
APA Style
mettle. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Mettle
Sentence Examples
- Lana didn't have the mettle to survive the way he knew how.
- He suspected it was because the same mettle lining Dusty's backbone lined hers.
- Determined that in this first battle against a white nation they would show their mettle, the Japanese lavished both time and forethought on the minutest preparations.
- The cause slumbered, till in1742-1743the outbreak of wars with France and Spain gave Prince Charles a chance of showing his mettle.
- An observer of very different mettle, the great lawyer d'Aguesseau, dwells on the "noble singularity, that gave him an almost prophetic air.
» more...
WORDS NEAR mettle IN THE DICTIONARY
- mettle
- mett
- mett-tc
- Metternich