Other forms: mentioned, mentions, mentioning
To mention something is to say it briefly, in passing, without going into it. She mentioned the letter. He never mentioned that he was leaving.
The brevity is the whole meaning: mentioning is not discussing, and if somebody merely mentioned something they did not dwell on it. The verb takes a direct object with no preposition — mention it to me, not mention about it — and about is the commonest error. Two useful set phrases: don't mention it is a reply to thanks, meaning it was nothing, and not to mention introduces an extra point with a flourish. The noun is a mention, and a passing mention is exactly as slight as it sounds.
1verbmentionTo say something briefly and in passing.
“He mentioned it once and never again.”
synonyms: refer to, bring up, note
2nounreferenceA brief reference to something.
“There was one mention of it in the whole report.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
mention is a way of referring briefly.
Latin mentionem meant a calling to mind, from a root related to mens, the mind — the same family as mental, memory and, at a distance, mind itself. To mention something is literally to put it into somebody's head.
Latin
mentiōnem
Old French
mention
Middle English
mencioun
English, today
mention
Built from
Middle English mencioun, mention, from Old French mention, from Latin mentiōnem, accusative of mentiō (“a mention, calling to mind”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA