mindful

English

Alternative forms

• mindefull, mindfull (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English myndeful, myndefull, from Old English ġemyndful (“of good memory”), equivalent to mind +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmʌɪndfəl/

Adjective

mindful (comparative more mindful, superlative most mindful)

1. Being aware (of something); attentive, heedful. [from 14th c.]
   • 2011 December 10, Marc Higginson, “Bolton 1 - 2 Aston Villa”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Alex McLeish, perhaps mindful of the flak he has been taking from sections of the Villa support for a perceived negative style of play, handed starts to wingers Charles N'Zogbia and Albrighton.

2. (obsolete) Inclined (to do something). [16th-19th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.5:

     These noble warriors, mindefull to pursew / The last daies purpose of their vowed fight, / Them selves thereto preparde in order dew […].

Antonyms

• mindless
• seat-of-the-pants

Derived terms

• mindfully
• mindfulness

Translations

bearing in mind

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 铭记于心的

• Finnish: jostakin tietoinen, jonkin huomioon ottava
• French: conscient (fr)
• Greek: προσεκτικός (el) (prosektikós), επιμελής (el) (epimelís)
• Italian: memore (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: memor
• Maori: puakaha, whaiwhakaaro
• Old English: ġemyndiġ
• Russian: держа в уме (derzha v ume), памятуя (pamyatuya)
• Scottish Gaelic: cùramach

Etymology 2

mind +‎ -ful

Noun

mindful (plural mindfuls)

1. As much as can be held in one's mind at a time.
   • 1995, R. Tallis, Newton's Sleep: The Two Cultures and the Two Kingdoms:

     A work of art may exceed a 'mindful' – whatever it is that can be accommodated within a mind at a given time – and may have to be regarded as a series of mindfuls.

   • 2008, Pavel G Somov, Eating the Moment:

     So, whereas mouthfuls and servings are the units of fullness, mindfuls and savorings are the units of mind-fullness.

   • 2014, Toshiharu Taura, Principia Designae - Pre-Design, Design, and Post-Design:

     A sketch can hold several mindfuls, allowing designers to see far more than they can imagine, allowing designers to integrate mindfuls.

Further reading

• “mindful”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “mindful”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.