Meaning & use
openmindedness
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Meaning
noununcountableapproving
A willingness to listen to and consider ideas, opinions or ways of life that differ from your own.
Grammar: No plural and no article: she showed openmindedness.
Patterns
- openmindedness about something
- openmindedness toward someone
The interviewer admired her openmindedness toward new methods.
Openmindedness is useful when you travel to places with different customs.
His openmindedness made him a fair judge.
Common combinations
- show openmindedness
- Voters showed openmindedness by hearing all candidates.
- with openmindedness
- Approach the discussion with openmindedness and curiosity.
- a spirit of openmindedness
- The workshop was held in a spirit of openmindedness.
- intellectual openmindedness
- Scientists value intellectual openmindedness.
Synonyms and how they differ
- receptiveness
- Receptiveness stresses being ready to take in new ideas, while openmindedness also includes treating other views fairly.
- tolerance
- Tolerance means accepting what you may disagree with, while openmindedness means actually thinking about it.
- broad-mindedness
- Broad-mindedness is close in meaning but often refers to being relaxed about other people's behavior.
Opposites
Word family
- open-minded adjective
- willing to consider new ideas
- open-mindedly adverb
- in a way that is willing to consider new ideas
- mind noun
- the part of a person that thinks
- open adjective
- not closed, or ready to accept
Commonly confused: openmindedness or absentmindedness?
openmindedness vs absentmindedness
Absentmindedness means being forgetful or distracted, not being willing to hear different ideas.
Practice
Her ___ helped her listen carefully to views that she did not share.
Choose one answer.
Openmindedness is the willingness to consider other views. Stubbornness is the opposite, and absentmindedness is about forgetting.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “openmindedness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.