mind reader
- noun
- /maɪnd ˈriːdər/
- I'm not a mind reader, you know.
- a kind of mind reader
Obviously you can't be a mind reader, but goodness knows that you've tried.
- Obviously you can't be a mind reader, but goodness knows that you've tried.
- It's like falling prey to a very, very clever mind reader.
- All right, so I guess I'll have to confess I'm not a mind reader, but I also did not cheat.
- But even that doesn't work unless you also become a mind reader, And even then, because you wouldn't.
- And you have to be willing to express express to the other because they're not also not mind readers.
Examples
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As a skilled performer, the magician claimed to be a mind reader, astonishing the audience with his seemingly supernatural insights.
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So many people expect their partner to be a mind reader and then not.
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What are you, a mind reader?
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You must be a mind reader.
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I never knew you were a mind reader.
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My friend, you should be a mind reader.
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Women assume men are mind readers.
Academic text (2005) -
I'm not a mind reader.
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I didn't know you were a mind reader.
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Managers aren't mind readers, and they need honest, constructive feedback.
Blog text (25)
Synonyms
A person who can read and send thoughts without speaking
A person who says they can know things beyond normal senses, like predicting the future
A performer who seems to read people's thoughts using tricks
A magician who seems to know what people think by using tricks
A performer who pretends to read minds by using secret signals from an accomplice
A person who says they can share thoughts without using the senses
How Perceptive
Surface Forms
Morphology
mind + reader
The compound 'mind reader' is directly built from 'mind' (thoughts) + 'reader' (an agent who reads), so its meaning 'someone or something that reads/predicts minds' is transparently derivable from the constituents; although metaphorical when applied to AI, the composition follows a common agent + object pattern found across languages. A B1 learner who knows 'mind' and 'reader' would readily infer the intended sense.
Etymology
Mind reader comes from the image of someone reading a mind like a book. Magicians watched small signs and seemed to 'know' what people were thinking, so a person who did this was called a mind reader.