Meaning & use
mental gymnastics
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Meanings
noununcountabledisapproving
Elaborate, twisting reasoning used to defend an idea or avoid admitting something that seems obvious.
Grammar: Takes a singular verb and is often critical: it takes mental gymnastics to defend that claim.
Patterns
- do mental gymnastics
- take mental gymnastics to do something
It takes serious mental gymnastics to claim the plan was a success.
He performed mental gymnastics to justify skipping the meeting.
Her excuses required a lot of mental gymnastics.
noununcountablehumorous
Demanding mental effort, such as solving a hard puzzle or juggling many ideas at once.
Grammar: A more neutral use: the exam involved mental gymnastics.
Patterns
- require mental gymnastics
- a bit of mental gymnastics
Converting the old timetable to the new one required some mental gymnastics.
The riddle needed a few minutes of mental gymnastics.
Keeping track of five conversations at once is real mental gymnastics.
Common combinations
- do mental gymnastics
- You have to do mental gymnastics to believe that story.
- engage in mental gymnastics
- Some commentators engage in mental gymnastics to defend their favorite team.
- require mental gymnastics
- The tax form required mental gymnastics to understand.
- take some mental gymnastics
- It took some mental gymnastics to rearrange the schedule.
- impressive mental gymnastics
- That was some impressive mental gymnastics.
Synonyms and how they differ
- rationalization
- Rationalization is the formal word for inventing reasons to excuse behavior, and lacks the playful image of gymnastics.
- contortion
- Contortion suggests twisting an argument out of shape and is often used with logic, whereas mental gymnastics may also mean hard thinking.
- sophistry
- Sophistry is a formal word for clever but misleading argument, which is narrower and more insulting than mental gymnastics.
- mental effort
- Mental effort is neutral for any hard thinking, whereas mental gymnastics usually hints at strained or tricky reasoning.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: mental gymnastics or mental arithmetic?
mental gymnastics vs mental arithmetic
Mental arithmetic means calculating numbers in your head without a calculator. Mental gymnastics is about strained or elaborate reasoning, not just counting.
Practice
A critic says, 'It takes mental gymnastics to defend that decision.' What is the critic suggesting?
Choose one answer.
Mental gymnastics implies convoluted reasoning, so the critic is saying the decision is hard to defend honestly. The other options describe a decision that is simple, rushed, or admired, none of which the phrase suggests.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mental gymnastics”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.