telepath

telepath — noun

1. a person who can send thoughts to other people, or receive theirs, without speak

1.nounC1
Definition

a person who can send thoughts to other people, or receive theirs, without speaking, writing, or using any ordinary physical signal

Example

Antonia knew what her brother wanted before he spoke because both children were telepaths.

plural: telepaths

Wren hired a telepath in the film to question the captured spy without torture.

pattern: hire a telepath

Common collocations
  • a gifted telepath
  • a powerful telepath
  • hire a telepath
  • a young telepath
Synonyms
  • psychic

    broader term; may also predict the future or sense hidden facts, not only thoughts

  • mind reader

    more informal and often used jokingly, though it can describe the same ability

  • clairvoyant

    different power; focuses on seeing distant or future events rather than sharing thoughts

  • medium

    different focus; claims to communicate with the dead rather than with living minds

Antonyms
  • skeptic

    someone who does not believe such mental powers are real

  • rationalist

    someone who trusts logic and evidence over paranormal claims

Grammar Patterns

a telepath

be a telepath

hire a telepath

Usage Note

Most often used in science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal discussion. Common patterns are be a telepath, hire a telepath, and describe someone as a gifted or powerful telepath.

Common Mistakes

She is very telepathic, so she works as a telepathic.
She is very telepathic, so she works as a telepath.
telepath is the person; telepathic is the adjective.
The detective hired a medium to read the suspect's thoughts.
The detective hired a telepath to read the suspect's thoughts.
a medium is linked to spirits, while a telepath reads living minds.

Word family

  • telepathy
    nounC1
  • telepathic
    adjectiveC1
  • telepathically
    adverbC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Telepath is the most exact word when the power involves thoughts moving directly from one mind to another. Psychic is broader and more everyday: a psychic may predict the future, sense hidden facts, or contact spirits, so not every psychic is a telepath. Mind reader is the informal, often playful term, and people also use it jokingly for someone who guesses well. Clairvoyant shifts away from thoughts and toward hidden or future events seen at a distance. Medium is different again because the focus is communication with the dead. Compare: a telepath hears the captain's plan without speech; a psychic gives a public reading; a clairvoyant foresees an accident; a medium claims to pass on a message from a dead relative.

telepath ↗psychic ↗mind readerclairvoyant ↗medium ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • gifted telepath
  • powerful telepath
  • young telepath

Phrases

  • be a telepath
  • claim to be a telepath
  • hire a telepath

Etymology

Ancient GreekEnglish

Formed in English in the late 1800s from telepathy, which combines tele- ('far' or 'at a distance') with -pathy from Greek words about feeling or experience. The noun was created to name a person believed to send or receive thoughts directly across a distance without speaking or writing.

First known use

1885

1885, in the meaning defined above