mettle

Syllables: met·tle/ˈmɛtəl/

mettle noun: a quality of courage and endurance. Also the obsolete spelling of metal.

Noun

mettle (usually uncountable, plural mettles)

(usually) A quality of courage and endurance.
- By this Day and this Light, the fellow ha's mettell enough in his belly.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- Please read on and discover the issues in education that test the mettle of those who experience this world every day.2001, Harry J. Alexandrowicz, Testing your Mettle: Tough Problems and Real-world Solutions for Middle and High School Teachers, page xiii
Synonyms:

heart, pith, spirit
(usually) Good temperament and character.
- Your Maſter quits you: and for your ſeruice done him, / So much againſt the mettle of your ſexc. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- The arrival of this unexpected heir soon taking wind in the court, still makes good for the Sol, and keeps the court upon its mettle.1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Interlopers”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 328

Adjective

mettle

(Scotland) Spirited, vigorous, stout-hearted.
- And then one afternoon in the hinder end of April came young Heriotside riding to the Skerburnfoot. His arm was healed, he had got him a fine new suit of green, and his horse was a mettle beast that well set off his figure.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

Also used as

mettle is also the obsolete spelling of metal.

mettle meaning in Marathi and Arabic

mettle in Marathi

a quality of endurance and courage: धैर्य dhairya

mettle in Arabic

a quality of endurance and courage: معدن

Examples of mettle in a sentence

The few who looked after him at all came to the view that he possessed more mettle than stamina.1919, Henry B[lake] Fuller, “Cope Goes A-Sailing”, in Bertram Cope’s Year: A Novel, Chicago, Ill.: Ralph Fletcher Seymour, The Alderbrink...
Its possible that some traders will become less interested as their offline lives resume more fully, but their mettle may really be tested when the market runs into its next downturn.2021 April 28, Tara Siegel Bernard, “Trading Stock Tips on TikTok, Newbies Are Deeply Invested in Learning”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Synonyms of mettle

Forms of mettle

plural	mettles

Origin of mettle

From figurative use of metal (since 16th century). The two spellings were originally interchangeable variants, but came to be distinguished by sense in the 18th century.

Words formed from mettle

Words that rhyme with mettle

Questions about mettle

What does mettle mean?: Mettle means a quality of courage and endurance.
What is mettle in Marathi?: Mettle in Marathi is धैर्य (dhairya). See Mettle meaning in Marathi.
How do you use mettle in a sentence?: The few who looked after him at all came to the view that he possessed more mettle than stamina.
What part of speech is mettle?: Mettle can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce mettle?: Mettle is pronounced /ˈmɛtəl/.
What is the plural of mettle?: The plural of mettle is mettles.

Words near mettle in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: mettle (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-mettle.wav.

Cite this entry: “mettle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mettle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.