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⇱ mutual - WordReference.com Dictionary of English

mutual

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UK:**UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ˈmjuːtʃʊəl/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/ˈmjutʃuəl/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(myo̅o̅′cho̅o̅ əl)


WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
mu•tu•al /ˈmyutʃuəl/USA pronunciation   adj. 
  1. possessed, felt, or performed by each of two with respect to the other; reciprocal:mutual respect.
  2. having the same relation each toward the other:mutual enemies.
  3. held or having in common;
    shared:mutual interests.
mu•tu•al•i•ty /ˈmyutʃuˈælɪti/USA pronunciation  n. [uncountable]
mu•tu•al•ly, adv.: If two events or circumstances are mutually exclusive, only one can happen or be true, but not both.See -mut-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
mu•tu•al  (myo̅o̅′cho̅o̅ əl),USA pronunciation adj. 
  1. possessed, experienced, performed, etc., by each of two or more with respect to the other;
    reciprocal:to have mutual respect.
  2. having the same relation each toward the other:to be mutual enemies.
  3. of or pertaining to each of two or more;
    held in common;
    shared:mutual interests.
  4. Businesshaving or pertaining to a form of corporate organization in which there are no stockholders, and profits, losses, expenses, etc., are shared by members in proportion to the business each transacts with the company:a mutual company.

n. 
  1. Informal Terms, Business, British Termsa mutual fund.
  • Latin -ālis) -al1
  • Latin mūtu(us) mutual, reciprocal (mūt(āre) to change (see mutate) + -uus deverbal adjective, adjectival suffix) + Middle French -el (
  • Middle French mutuel
  • 1470–80
mu′tu•al•ly, adv. 
    1. Mutual, reciprocal agree in the idea of an exchange or balance between two or more persons or groups. Mutual indicates an exchange of a feeling, obligation, etc., between two or more people, or an interchange of some kind between persons or things:mutual esteem; in mutual agreement.Reciprocal indicates a relation in which one act, thing, feeling, etc., balances or is given in return for another:reciprocal promises or favors.
    The earliest (15th century) and still a current meaning of mutual is "reciprocal,'' specifying the relation of two or more persons or things to each other:Their admiration is mutual.Teachers and students sometimes suffer from a mutual misunderstanding.Mutual soon developed the sense of "having in common, shared'':Their mutual objective is peace.This latter sense has been in use since the 16th century and is entirely standard. It is occasionally criticized, not on the grounds of ambiguity but on the grounds that the later sense development is somehow wrong. Mutual in the sense of "shared'' may have been encouraged by the title of Charles Dickens's novel Our Mutual Friend (1864–65), but Dickens was not the innovator. The fact that common also has the sense "ordinary, unexceptional'' and "coarse, vulgar'' may have contributed to the use of mutual instead of common in designating a shared friend.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
mutual /ˈmjuːtʃʊəl/ adj
  1. experienced or expressed by each of two or more people or groups about the other; reciprocal: mutual distrust
  2. common to or shared by both or all of two or more parties: a mutual friend, mutual interests
  3. denoting an insurance company, etc, in which the policyholders share the profits and expenses and there are no shareholders
Etymology: 15th Century: from Old French mutuel, from Latin mūtuus reciprocal (originally: borrowed); related to mūtāre to changemutuality /ˌmjuːtjʊˈælɪtɪ/, ˈmutualness n ˈmutually adv USAGE
'mutual' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Collocations: mutual respect for each other, mutual feelings of [love, hate, resentment, joy] (for), a [deal, project] for our mutual benefit, more...

🗣️Forum discussions with the word(s) "mutual" in the title:

a more profound mutual knowledge
a mutual -aid society at work? a benefit society at work?
a society that looks out for the mutual benefit and good of everyone
An alternative of “mutual” for more than two parties
As our mutual happiness settled into a quieter character
Common interest vs mutual interest
common traits/traits in common/mutual traits
Common-Mutual
Common, Mutual & Joint
common/mutual song
confess to mutual violation
depend <for success?> on states of mutual knowledge holding between discourse participants <for success?>
Difference between Complement and mutual benefit?
Different tenses in the same novel: Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
from how people interact politically, for mutual benefit, through institutions
Gladness is mutual, reciprocal or...?
I demand that this be a mutual relation
I have a <mutual friend> with Daniel, but I don’t know who it is.
It might be thought of as a mutual dependence
justice—enough and to spare: justice would be done,—mutual happiness secured
Making inquiries ... of/with mutual ones
Mutual advance, mutual progress and mutual benefit
mutual affection mutually known
Mutual agreement vs. Settlement agreement?
Mutual Assured Destruction
mutual benefits
mutual bruising
"Mutual" customer or "joint" customer?
mutual exposure,pop-and-paragraph
mutual friend (if not really a friend)
more...

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