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mean - definition and meaning
Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Something having a position, quality, or condition midway between extremes; a medium.
- noun A number that typifies a set of numbers, such as a geometric mean or an arithmetic mean.
- noun The average value of a set of numbers.
- noun Logic The middle term in a syllogism.
- noun A method, a course of action, or an instrument by which an act can be accomplished or an end achieved.
- noun Money, property, or other wealth.
- noun Great wealth.
- adjective Occupying a middle or intermediate position between two extremes.
- adjective Intermediate in size, extent, quality, time, or degree; medium.
- idiom (by all means) Without fail; certainly.
- idiom (by any means) In any way possible; to any extent.
- idiom (by means of) With the use of; owing to.
- idiom (by no means) In no sense; certainly not.
- intransitive verb To be used to convey; denote.
- intransitive verb To act as a symbol of; signify or represent.
- intransitive verb To intend to convey or indicate.
- intransitive verb To have as a purpose or an intention; intend.
- intransitive verb To design, intend, or destine for a certain purpose or end.
- intransitive verb To have as a consequence; bring about.
- intransitive verb To have the importance or value of.
- intransitive verb To have intentions of a specified kind; be disposed.
- idiom (mean business) To be in earnest.
- adjective Lacking in kindness; unkind.
- adjective Cruel, spiteful, or malicious.
- adjective Expressing spite or malice.
- adjective Tending toward or characterized by cruelty or violence.
- adjective Extremely unpleasant or disagreeable.
- adjective Ignoble; base: synonym: base.
- adjective Miserly; stingy.
- adjective Low in value, rank, or social status.
- adjective Common or poor in appearance; shabby.
- adjective Hard to cope with; difficult or troublesome.
- adjective Excellent; skillful.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To have in mind, view, or contemplation; intend; hence, to purpose or design.
- To signify, or be intended to signify; indicate; import; denote.
- To mention; tell; express.
- To be minded or disposed; have intentions of some kind: usually joined with an adverb: as, he means well.
- To have thought or ideas; have meaning.
- To speak; talk.
- Common; general.
- Of a common or low origin, grade, quality, etc.; common; humble: as, a man of mean parentage; mean birth or origin; a mean abode.
- Characteristic of or commonly pertaining to persons or things of low degree; common; inferior; poor; shabby: as, a mean appearance; mean dress.
- Without dignity of mind; destitute of honor; low-minded; spiritless; base.
- Niggardly; penurious; miserly; stingy.—
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English mene, middle, from Old French meien, from Latin mediānus, from medius; see medhyo- in Indo-European roots.]
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English menen, from Old English mǣnan, to tell of; see mei-no- in Indo-European roots.]
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English, from Old English gemǣne, common; see mei- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English menen, from Old English mǣnan ("to mean, signify, consider"), from Proto-Germanic *mainijanan (“to mean, think”), from Proto-Indo-European *mein- (“to think”). Cognate with West Frisian miene ("to deem, think"), Dutch menen ("to believe, think, mean"), German meinen ("to think, mean, believe"). Related to mind and German Minne ("love").
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English meene, from Old French meien (French moyen), Late Latin medianus ("that is in the middle, middle"), from medius ("middle"). Cognate with mid.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English mene, imene, from Old English mǣne, ġemǣne ("common, public, general, universal"), from Proto-Germanic *gamainiz (“common”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)meyǝ- (“to change, exchange, share”). Cognate with West Frisian mien ("general, universal"), Dutch gemeen ("common, mean"), German gemein ("common, mean, nasty"), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (gamains, "common, unclean"), Latin commūnis ("shared, common, general") (Old Latin comoinem).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English menen, from Old English mǣnan ("to complain about, lament, mourn, grieve"), from Proto-Germanic *mainijanan (“to be outraged, suffer harm”), Proto-Germanic *mainan (“deceit, falsehood, shame, sin, crime, perjury”), from Proto-Indo-European *(e)meyə-, *mei- (“to change”). Related to Old English mān ("wickedness, crime, sin, perjury"), Dutch meineed ("perjury"), German Meineid ("perjury"), Danish men ("injury"); see moan.
Support
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Examples
-
There's an underlying assumption, I think, that his words didn't mean anything (because the Clinton's words don't really * mean* anything - they just affect outcomes).
Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Hillary On The Debate: Obama Is "Very Frustrated" 2009
-
"And you realise that I mean it, _mean_ it, with every fibre of me."
The Daughters of Danaus Mona Caird
-
"Oh, you were mean -- _mean_ -- to shame me so," and floods of tears came again.
The Spenders A Tale of the Third Generation Harry Leon Wilson 1903
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Quercus had a mean body size of 6. 35±0.12 mm (mean± se), while those individuals belonging to the other tree cover categories had mean body sizes of 5. 26±0.15, 5. 18±0.09, and
PLoS ONE Alerts: New Articles Jos? R. Verd? et al. 2010
-
(c) Record the mean of the two coefficients obtained in (a) and (b) as the _mean phenol coefficient_, or simply as the ~Phenol Coefficient~.
-
(If you’ve never listened to Aesop, what I mean is this; he is the pioneer and master of Dadaist hip-hop, and his songs are chock-full of spectacular lines that mean nothing.)
f.l.a.s.h.f.l.o.o.d savemyseoul 2008
-
I mean it’s one thing to steal a car, but to crash it and bring it back to show the owner is just mean
goldylockz22 Diary Entry goldylockz22 2004
-
And so I’m also thinking about repiercing my nose, but I’m not sure because I mean I liked it, it was cute yanno, but I mean it was kind of annoying too.
aleighk21 Diary Entry aleighk21 2004
-
But I can't be mean -- _mean_ enough to crawl back now. "
The Splendid Folly Margaret Pedler
-
Most people are familiar with the term mean drunk.
Surviving in an Angry World Charles F. Stanley 2010
Related Words
synonyms (704)
Words with the same meaning
- Herculean
- Lenten
- Mickey Mouse
- OK
- Spartan
- abject
- abominable
- absolutely
- abstemious
- abstruse
- abysmal
- ace-high
- add up to
- affect
- agency
- agent
- ailing
- aim
- aim at
- allegorize
- allude to
- amidships
- apparatus
- approach
- arduous
- argue
- arrant
- ascetic
- aspire after
- aspire to
- assets
- assume
- assuredly
- at all events
- at any cost
- atrocious
- attest
- augur
- austere
- authoritarian
- avenue
- average
- backing
- bad
- bad-tempered
- baleful
- banal
- bang-up
- base
- base-minded
- baseborn
- be after
- be construed as
- be indicative of
- be significant of
- be symptomatic of
- bearish
- beggarly
- below the salt
- beneath contempt
- bespeak
- betoken
- bigot
- bigoted
- bitchy
- bonzer
- borne
- boss
- brandish
- breathe
- bring forth
- bring forward
- bring into view
- bring out
- bring to mind
- bring to notice
- brutal
- bully
- bundle
- but good
- by all means
- by dint of
- by means of
- by no means
- by way of
- cankered
- cantankerous
- capital
- carry
- center
- central
- certainly
- channel
- characterize
- cheap
- cheesy
- churlish
- close
- closed
- closefisted
- coarse
- cockney
- common
- commonplace
- communicate
- complex
- compromise
- connote
- constricted
- contemplate
- contemptible
- convey
- cool
- core
- corking
- count
- course
- crabbed
- crackerjack
- cramped
- cranky
- creedbound
- critical
- cross
- cross-grained
- cruel
- crummy
- crusty
- cussed
- dandy
- dangle
- deaf
- deaf to reason
- debased
- declasse
- deficient
- definitely
- degenerate
- degraded
- delicate
- delicious
- demanding
- demonstrate
- denominate
- denote
- depraved
- design
- designate
- desire
- despicable
- destine
- determine
- develop
- diameter
- diaphragm
- differentiate
- difficile
- difficult
- dirty
- disagreeable
- disclose
- disgraceful
- disgusting
- dishonorable
- dismal
- disobliging
- display
- divine
- divulge
- donsie
- dramatize
- dreary
- drive at
- ducky
- dwarfed
- dwarfish
- effective
- embody
- enact
- entail
- equator
- equatorial
- equidistant
- equipment
- estate
- evidence
- evince
- exacting
- excellent
- exceptional
- excitable
- execrable
- exhibit
- exiguous
- expect
- expose to view
- express
- fab
- fair
- fairish
- fanatical
- fashion
- feisty
- fence
- finances
- fine and dandy
- flagrant
- flaunt
- flourish
- foreshadow
- foretell
- foretoken
- formidable
- fortune
- foul
- fourth-class
- fractious
- frugal
- fulsome
- funds
- gaudy
- gear
- get across
- get over
- gimcracky
- give evidence
- give sign
- give token
- go for
- go-between
- golden mean
- grave
- great
- groovy
- gross
- groveling
- grudging
- hack
- hairy
- half measures
- half-and-half measures
- halfway
- halfway measures
- happy medium
- harbor a design
- hard
- hard-earned
- hard-fought
- harmful
- hateful
- have every intention
- have in mind
- have in view
- heart
- heavy
- heinous
- herald
- hidebound
- highlight
- hint
- hint at
- holdings
- homely
- hope
- hostile
- hot
- huffish
- huffy
- humble
- humble-looking
- humble-visaged
- humblest
- hunky-dory
- identify
- ignoble
- ill-tempered
- illiberal
- illuminate
- imperfect
- implicate
- imply
- import
- impoverished
- in any case
- in any event
- in no way
- inadequate
- incarnate
- incompetent
- indicate
- indifferent
- indisposed
- ineffectual
- infer
- inferior
- inglorious
- iniquitous
- innocuous
- insinuate
- instrument
- instrumentality
- instrumentation
- insufficient
- insular
- intangibles
- intend
- intercurrent
- interior
- interjacent
- intermediary
- intermediate
- intervenient
- intervening
- intimate
- intricate
- invidious
- involve
- irascible
- irregular
- irritable
- jam-up
- jawbreaking
- jejune
- just dandy
- keen
- kernel
- knotted
- knotty
- laborious
- lean
- least
- limited
- little
- little-minded
- low
- low-class
- low-down
- low-grade
- low-minded
- low-quality
- low-test
- lowborn
- lowbred
- lowest
- lowliest
- lowly
- lumpen
- machinery
- make clear
- make plain
- maladroit
- malefic
- maleficent
- malicious
- malign
- malignant
- mangy
- manifest
- manner
- mark
- marvy
- materialize
- meager
- mean
- mean to say
- mean-minded
- mean-spirited
- means
- meantime
- meanwhile
- measly
- measure
- medial
- median
- mediator
- mediocre
- mediocrity
- mediterranean
- medium
- menial
- mercenary
- meretricious
- mesial
- mesne
- method
- mezzo
- mid
- middle
- middle course
- middle ground
- middle way
- middle-of-the-road
- middlemost
- middling
- midland
- midmost
- midriff
- midships
- midst
- midway
- mind
- mingy
- ministry
- miserable
- miserly
- mode
- moderate
- moderateness
- moderation
- modest
- money
- moneybags
- monstrous
- name
- narrow
- narrow-hearted
- narrow-minded
- narrow-souled
- narrow-spirited
- nasty
- near
- nearsighted
- neat
- nefarious
- nest egg
- neutral ground
- nifty
- niggard
- niggardly
- no matter what
- no picnic
- no way
- nobby
- nonclerical
- norm
- normal
- not at all
- not comparable
- not easy
- not in it
- note
- noxious
- nuclear
- nucleus
- obnoxious
- odious
- of course
- okay
- on no account
- operose
- ordinary
- organ
- ornery
- out of it
- out of sight
- paltry
- par
- parade
- paraphernalia
- parochial
- parsimonious
- pathetic
- peachy
- peachy-keen
- penny-pinching
- penurious
- perform
- perverse
- pesky
- petty
- pile
- pinchpenny
- pitiable
- pitiful
- plain
- plan
- plebeian
- point indirectly to
- point to
- poky
- poor
- portend
- position
- positively
- possessions
- prefigure
- preindicate
- presage
- present
- presign
- presignal
- presignify
- presume
- presuppose
- pretypify
- procedure
- process
- produce
- project
- proletarian
- promise
- property
- propose
- provincial
- punk
- puny
- purblind
- purport
- purpose
- purse
- rank
- refer to
- represent
- reptilian
- reserves
- resolve
- resources
- reveal
- rigorous
- ripping
- roll out
- rough
- routine
- rubbishy
- rude
- rugged
- rum
- run-down
- sad
- savings
- scabby
- scant
- scanty
- scrawny
- scrimp
- scrimpy
- scrubby
- scruffy
- scrumptious
- scummy
- scurvy
- scuzzy
- second-best
- second-class
- second-rate
- seedy
- servile
- set
- set forth
- set with thorns
- severe
- shabby
- shabby-genteel
- shameful
- shoddy
- shortsighted
- show
- show forth
- signal
- signify
- simple
- skilled
- skimp
- skimpy
- slap-up
- slavish
- sleazy
- slender
- slight
- slim
- small
- small-minded
- smashing
- snappish
- so-so
- solid
- something else
- sordid
- sorry
- sour
- spare
- sparing
- specify
- spell
- spiffing
- spiffy
- spiny
- spiritless
- spiteful
- spleeny
- splenetic
- spotlight
- squalid
- stand for
- standard
- starvation
- steep
- stingy
- stinted
- stinting
- straitened
- straitlaced
- strenuous
- stuffy
- stunning
- stunted
- submissive
- subservient
- subsistence
- substance
- suggest
- support
- suppose
- surely
- swell
- symbolize
- symptomatize
- symptomize
- system
- tacky
- take for granted
- tatty
- teachable
- technique
- testify
- testy
- thick
- thick of things
- thin
- think
- third-class
- third-estate
- third-rate
- thorny
- through
- ticklish
- tight
- tight-fisted
- tightfisted
- tinny
- toilsome
- token
- tough
- trashy
- tricky
- trot out
- troublous
- trumpery
- two-for-a-cent
- two-for-a-penny
- twopenny
- twopenny-halfpenny
- typify
- ugly
- unaccommodating
- uncatholic
- uncharitable
- unchivalrous
- undignified
- undistinguished
- unfold
- ungenerous
- ungenteel
- unimportant
- unkind
- unliberal
- unmentionable
- unnourishing
- unnutritious
- unpleasant
- unpretentious
- unskillful
- unwashed
- uphill
- using
- usual
- valueless
- vehicle
- vexatious
- via
- via media
- vile
- vulgar
- waist
- waistline
- want
- waspish
- watered
- watery
- wave
- way
- ways
- wealth
- weigh
- wherewithal
- wicked
- wish
- without fail
- wizard
- wonderful
- worthless
- wretched
- zone
equivalents (11)
Other words for 'mean'
hypernyms (8)
Words that are more generic or abstract
hyponyms (11)
Words more specific or concrete
same context (45)
Words that are found in similar contexts
- Said
- advantage
- birds
- brown-faced
- call
- early
- enemy
- evening
- ex-partner
- excellent
- form
- free
- gender
- genuine
- happiness
- head
- idea
- kill
- last
- manly
- manner
- median
- method
- military
- mode
- mortal
- occasion
- odd
- pass
- power
- rich
- room
- rule
- sanctimoniousness
- schools
- sing
- sleep
- state
- think
- understand
- use
- vice
- wise
- writes
- you
variants (1)
Variants
cross-references (55)
Cross-references
- arithmetical mean
- arithmetico-geo-metrical mean
- base
- by all means
- by any means
- by no manner of means
- by no means
- center of mean distances
- center of the harmonic mean
- contemptible
- contraharmonical mean and proportion
- focus of mean motion
- geometrical mean
- golden mean
- harmonic mean
- inferior
- lowly
- mean anomaly
- mean apogee
- mean clef
- mean distance
- mean error
- mean line
- mean longitude
- mean moon
- mean noon
- mean of the altitudes
- mean of the latitudes
- mean of the tides
- mean place
- mean point
- mean position
- mean proportional
- mean solar day
- mean space
- mean sphere
- mean sun
- mean term
- mean time
- mean voice
- mean way
- means of grace
- ordinary
- quadratic mean
- range
- shabby
- spread
- to cut a line in extreme and mean ratio
- to feel mean
- to make means
- to mean business
- undignified
- weighted mean
- worthless
- wretched
rhymes (163)
Words with the same terminal sound
- Aileen
- Amin
- Arleen
- Augustin
- Bean
- Cathleen
- Celine
- Charlene
- Christine
- Clymene
- Coleen
- Colleen
- Corinne
- Crimean
- Dean
- Deane
- Doreen
- Eileen
- Eugene
- Filene
- Gene
- Geraldine
- Green
- Greene
- Halloween
- Helene
- Irene
- Janine
- Jean
- Jeanne
- Jolene
- Justine
- Kathleen
- Kean
- Keane
- Keene
- Killeen
- Kristine
- Laurene
- Lean
- Levine
- Marine
- Marleen
- Maureen
- Maxine
- Mien
- Moline
- Nadine
- Nene
- Noreen
- Pauline
- Queen
- Rabin
- Racine
- Sabine
- Selene
- Serene
- Sheen
- Sistine
- Slovene
- Smithereen
- Steen
- Wolverine
- agin
- ameen
- aquamarine
- baleen
- bean
- beene
- bein
- benzene
- between
- bien
- brean
- caffeine
- canteen
- careen
- casein
- citrine
- clean
- clymene
- colleen
- convene
- corinne
- cortine
- crimean
- cuisine
- dean
- demean
- eighteen
- feldene
- fifteen
- figurine
- foreseen
- fourteen
- gean
- gelatine
- gene
- glean
- green
- greene
- haen
- intervene
- jean
- keen
- keene
- latrine
- lean
- lene
- lien
- machine
- mandarine
- marine
- meine
- mien
- moline
- moreen
- mujahedeen
- mujahideen
- nene
- nineteen
- obscene
- onscreen
- pauline
- peine
- plein
- preen
- preteen
- propylene
- queen
- ravine
- reconvene
- reen
- routine
- saline
- sardine
- scene
- screen
- seen
- serene
- seventeen
- shaheen
- sheen
- sixteen
- skeen
- skene
- spleen
- submachine
- submarine
- sunscreen
- tambourine
- tangerine
- teen
- thirteen
- trampoline
- treen
- umpteen
- unclean
- unforeseen
- unseen
- vaccine
- wean
- wolverine
leaden commented on the word mean
Something unmeant occurred when the Wiktionary definition was parsed (and number eight is clearly a bug here or a bad edit there), but it comes off vaguely narrative and poetic.
September 30, 2011
marky commented on the word mean
too many definitions of this word. ugh.
January 7, 2016