Bill ZehmeWilliam Shakespeare
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Is mettle Connected to Metal?
Originally, mettle was simply a variant spelling of the word metal (which dates to at least the 13th century), and it was used in all of the same senses as its metallic relative. Over time, however, mettle came to be used mainly in figurative senses referring to the quality of someone's character. It eventually became a distinct English word in its own right, losing its literal sense altogether. Metal remained a term primarily used for those hard, shiny substances such as steel or iron, but it also acquired a figurative use. Today, both words can mean "vigor and strength of spirit or temperament," but only metal is used of metallic substances.
Examples of mettle in a Sentence
Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 17 Apr. 2025
As North America’s ski season winds down, passionate skiers and snowboarders begin making plans to test their mettle on the slopes of South America where the ski season begins in earnest in June and usually runs to October.
—Roger Sands, Forbes.com, 15 Apr. 2025
Having revealed their mettle by simply getting to New York, they’re neither limited by policy nor the circumstances that instigated their migration to begin with.
—John Tamny, Forbes, 6 Mar. 2025
The obstacles continue even after the team proves their mettle.
—Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mettle
Cite this Entry
“Mettle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mettle. Accessed 28 Apr. 2025.
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mettle
noun
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