Word.ws English Dictionary

have a mind of one's own

have a mind of one's own verb: to form one's personal opinions and choose one's actions without being governed by the views or choices of others; to be independently minded; to think for oneself.

Verb

have a mind of one's own (third-person singular simple present has a mind of one's own, present participle having a mind of one's own, simple past and past participle had a mind of one's own)

  1. (idiomatic) To form one's personal opinions and choose one's actions without being governed by the views or choices of others; to be independently minded; to think for oneself.
    • "Don't be anxious, daddy!" said he, with assumed playfulness; "she's not a girl to take the first that offers. She has a mind of her own."1866, Bayard Taylor, chapter 4, in The Story of Kennett
    • Captain Evans had a mind of his own, and did not choose to adopt any man's judgment or prejudices blindly.1874, Horatio Alger, chapter 25, in Brave and Bold
  2. To seem to possess animate qualities or a conscious will, especially a will to misbehave.
    • This washing machine never sticks to the programmed cycle. It has a mind of its own.
    • I'm trying to follow the dance steps, but my feet have minds of their own.

Forms of have a mind of one's own

third-person singular presenthas a mind of one's own
present participlehaving a mind of one's own
past participlehad a mind of one's own
pasthad a mind of one's own

Questions about have a mind of one's own

What does have a mind of one's own mean?
Have a mind of one's own means to form one's personal opinions and choose one's actions without being governed by the views or choices of others; to be independently minded; to think for oneself.
What part of speech is have a mind of one's own?
Have a mind of one's own is a verb.
What is the past tense of have a mind of one's own?
The past tense of have a mind of one's own is had a mind of one's own.

Words near have a mind of one's own in the dictionary

  1. have a lend of
  2. have a listen
  3. have a look
  4. have a loose screw
  5. have a lot of time
  6. have a mind of one's own
  7. have a mind to
  8. have a moment
  9. have a monk on
  10. have a mountain to climb
  11. have a nice day

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: have a mind of one's own (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-have a mind of one's own.ogg.

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