MUTUAL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Mutual

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/mjˈutʃuəl/ Listen

adjective

Mutual adj.

Reciprocally acting or related; reciprocally receiving and giving; reciprocally given and received; reciprocal; interchanged; as, a mutual love, advantage, assistance, aversion, etc. "Conspiracy and mutual promise." "Happy in our mutual help, And mutual love." "A certain shyness on such subjects, which was mutual between the sisters."

Possessed, experienced, or done by two or more persons or things at the same time; common; joint; as, mutual happiness; a mutual effort. "A vast accession of misery and woe from the mutual weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth." Note: This use of mutual as synonymous with common is inconsistent with the idea of interchange, or reciprocal relation, which properly belongs to it; but the word has been so used by many writers of high authority. The present tendency is toward a careful discrimination. "Mutual, as Johnson will tell us, means something reciprocal, a giving and taking. How could people have mutual ancestors?"

Mutual insurance, agreement among a number of persons to insure each other against loss, as by fire, death, or accident.

Mutual insurance company, one which does a business of insurance on the mutual principle, the policy holders sharing losses and profits pro rata.

Synonyms: Reciprocal; interchanged; common.

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Etymology of 'Mutual'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Mutual" Quotes from Famous Books

... the labourers, but which do not emanate from themselves. Any three men of average strength and intelligence might make a potter's wheel together, or build a small boat together, as they frequently do now, their several tasks being interchangeable, or assigned to each of them by easy mutual agreement. The business of directing labour has not separated itself from the actual business of labouring. Each man knows the object of what he does, and can co-ordinate that object with the object of what ...

— A Critical Examination of Socialism • William Hurrell Mallock

... exhibition of gifts, nor to enable noisy and forward young men to pose as leaders of a school of prophets; but if a few young men of like tastes feel the withering influence of mere scholastic learning, and the necessity of mutual stimulation and refreshment, then such prayer meetings would be a safe and natural remedy. The student's attention to all religious observances was close and unbroken, the most living part ...

— The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Vol. 1 (of 3) - 1809-1859 • John Morley

... than earthly beauty. In her the strength and grace of the deer and panther were blended with the ethereal delicacy and beauty of the flower. But it was her face that bespoke the luminous nature of the soul which dwelt within her. So close was the bond of sympathy and mutual understanding between them, that she instinctively half divined his thoughts and ...

— When Dreams Come True • Ritter Brown

... have been valueless. But with sublime sacrifice I accepted these risks, and you will presently see, Sir, how I was repaid for my selflessness. I pined in a lonely prison-cell while these two limbs of Satan concocted a plot to rob me of my share in our mutual undertaking. ...

— Castles in the Air • Baroness Emmuska Orczy

... assuring her of their gratitude and devotion, retired. Most of them were personally known to Cleopatra who, to their mutual pleasure and advantage, had measured her intellectual powers with the most brilliant minds ...

— Uarda • Georg Ebers

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