Mensa Definition & Meaning

American

British

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

mensa 1 American [men-suh] / ˈmɛn sə /

noun

plural

mensas, mensae,

genitive

Mensae

1. Also called altar stone. Also called altar slab,. the flat stone forming the top of the altar in a Roman Catholic church.

2. (initial capital letter) the Table, a southern constellation near Octans.

Mensa 2 American [men-suh] / ˈmɛn sə /

noun

1. an international fellowship organization for people with IQ's in the top 2 percent of the general population.

Mensa 1 British / ˈmɛnsə /

noun

1. a faint constellation in the S hemisphere lying between Hydrus and Volans and containing part of the Large Magellanic Cloud

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Mensa 2 British / ˈmɛnsə /

noun

1. an international society, membership of which is restricted to people whose intelligence test scores exceed those expected of 98 per cent of the population

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

• Mensan noun

Etymology

Origin of mensa1

First recorded in 1685–95; from Latin mēnsa “table”

Origin of Mensa2

From the Latin word mēnsa table, symbolizing the original conception of the society, “a round table where no one has precedence”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Henry's a genius. He's a member of Mensa. He taught himself to read aged 25 months."

From BBC

I can't count how many letters and emails I've gotten over the last decades from people who say, "I thought I was dumb, or the teachers told me my kids were dumb, or I applied for Mensa and I didn't get it. But then I learned about your theory and I explored things to find out what I was good at, what I was average at, what I was not good at. And that's been liberating for me or for my children or my grandchildren or whatever."

From Salon

Voter turnout was 60.9%, said the head of Ghana's electoral commission, Jean Mensa.

From BBC

Mahnoor, who is a member of Mensa, will be focussed on gaining a place at Oxford University or Imperial College.

From BBC

A 12-year-old football fan has joined the ranks of Mensa after scoring the maximum in an IQ test.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.