MUTUAL • DICCIONARIO INGLES.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

... agreeable among a Set of admirable Men, who had Thoughts too high for Ambition, and Views too large to be gratified by what he could give them in the Disposal of an Empire, without the Pleasures of their mutual Conversation. A certain Unanimity of Taste and Judgment, which is natural to all of the same Order in the Species, was the Band of this Society; and the Emperor assumed no Figure in it but what he thought was his Due from his private Talents and Qualifications, as they contributed to advance ...

— The Spectator, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - With Translations and Index for the Series • Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

... him to Tommy, and Tommy had been a faithful go-between. He had played upon their mutual love of books. At first O-liver had sent her books, then he had taken them. He had met her mother, had seen her in her home doing feminine things, sewing on lengths of pink and blue—filling the vases with the flowers that ...

— The Gay Cockade • Temple Bailey

... was, I knew, affected, and the constant anxiety in which he lived, however chimerical the cause of it might be, was evidently having a serious effect upon his health. I thought that a few months among the distractions of town would send him back a new man. Mr. Stapleton, a mutual friend who was much concerned at his state of health, was of the same opinion. At the last ...

— Hound of the Baskervilles • Authur Conan Doyle

... this wedding made all round the country, was no little; but the parties themselves were well satisfied with their mutual choice, and were happy. As the spring advanced, the duties of the household grew upon Mrs. Cheshire. She had to learn the art of cheese-making, butter-making, of all that relates to poultry, calves, and household management. But in these matters she ...

— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 2, July, 1850. • Various

... wanted to give Wych Hazel's thoughts a convenient diversion; perhaps he wished to get upon some safe common ground of interest and intercourse; perhaps he purposed to wear off any awkwardness that might embarrass their mutual good understanding; for he prefaced the ride with a series of instructions in horsemanship. Mr. Falkirk had never let his ward practise leaping; Rollo knew that; but now, and with Mr. Falkirk looking on, ...

— Wych Hazel • Susan and Anna Warner

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