mens rea
/ˌmɛnz ˈɹiːə/
mens rea noun: a reactive mind, a conscious knowing by the individual that an act was committed, either by themselves or by another.
Noun
mens rea (plural mentes reae)
- A reactive mind, a conscious knowing by the individual that an act was committed, either by themselves or by another.
- A guilty mind, the conscious knowing of a perpetrator while committing an act that the act is illicit.
- As a general rule the act (or omission) causing death and the relevant mens rea must occur at the same time. The most obvious application of this rule to exclude liability is the case where the mens rea is formed after the actus reus has taken place.2006, David Lanham, David Wood, Bronwyn Bartal, Rob Evans, Criminal Laws in Australia, page 198
- The criminal offences not requiring a mens rea proof for convictions are then specifically indicated in the legislature as being under “strict liability.”2007, Nikolaj Nottelmann, Blameworthy Belief: A Study in Epistemic Deontologism, page 10
mens rea meaning in Hindi and Tamil
mens rea in Hindi
- guilty mind
- चोर की दाढ़ी में तिनका cor kī dāṛhī mẽ tinkā
mens rea in Tamil
- குற்றமனம்
Forms of mens rea
| plural | mentes reae |
|---|
Origin of mens rea
From Latin mēns + reus (literally “guilty mind”), from the English common law precept Actus non facit reum nisi mens rea sit ("The act does not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty").
Words that rhyme with mens rea
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- althea
- Anthea
- Caesarea
- hamartia
- Hosea
- Leah
- logorrhea
- maria
- panacea
- Sandia
- Theia
- trachea
- Zia
- Achaea
- Alethea
- carry the message to Garcia
- chia
- chorea
- diarrhea
- Hygieia
- pharmacopoeia
- pro-mia
- quesadilla
- ratafia
- sangria
- shea
- Shi'a
- tortilla
- urea
- Aeaea
- Apamea
- apatheia
- Aramea
- Arimathea
- avania
- cinquedea
- Corea
- deliver the message to Garcia
- dionaea
- dyspnea
- Euboea
- eupatheia
- Euryclea
- Fawzia
- gelateria
- glossopoeia
- gonorrhea
- Hialeah
Questions about mens rea
- What does mens rea mean?
- Mens rea means a reactive mind, a conscious knowing by the individual that an act was committed, either by themselves or by another.
- What is mens rea in Hindi?
- Mens rea in Hindi is चोर की दाढ़ी में तिनका (cor kī dāṛhī mẽ tinkā). See Mens rea meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is mens rea?
- Mens rea is a noun.
- How do you pronounce mens rea?
- Mens rea is pronounced /ˌmɛnz ˈɹiːə/.
- What is the plural of mens rea?
- The plural of mens rea is mentes reae.
Words near mens rea in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mens rea (page history and authors); mens rea (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-mens rea.wav.
Cite this entry: “mens rea.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mens_rea. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.