mean

1. 1

   To intend.; To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention.transitive

   • I didn't mean to knock your tooth out.
   • I mean to go to Arévalo in Spain this summer; I’ve been meaning to tell you for weeks, but I’ve just found the time.
2. 2

   To intend.; To have as intentions of a given kind.intransitive

   • Don't be angry; she meant well.
3. 3

   To intend.; To intend (something) for a given purpose or fate; to predestine.passiveregionaltransitive

   • Actually this desk was meant for the subeditor.
   • Man was not meant to question such things.
4. 4

   To intend.; To intend an ensuing comment or statement as an explanation.transitive

   • Your reasoning seems needlessly abstruse, complex, and verbose for me. I mean, could you dumb it down for my sake?
5. 5

   To convey (a meaning).; To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea).transitive

   • The sky is red this morning—does that mean we're in for a storm?
6. 6

   To convey (a meaning).; Of a word, symbol etc: to have reference to, to signify.transitive

   • What does this hieroglyph mean?
7. 7

   To convey (a meaning).; Of a person (or animal etc): to intend to express, to imply, to hint at, to allude.transitive

   • I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean.
   • He’s a little different, if you know what I mean.
8. 8

   To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).transitive

   • Does she really mean what she said to him last night?
   • Say what you mean and mean what you say.
9. 9

   To cause or produce (a given result); to bring about (a given result).transitive

   • One faltering step means certain death.
   • This breakthrough will mean that we spend less on electricity bills.
10. 10

    To be of some level of importance.usually

    • That little dog meant everything to me.
    • Formality and titles mean nothing in their circle.

1. 1

   Common; general.obsolete

2. 2

   Of a common or low origin, grade, or quality; common; humble.archaic

   • a man of mean parentage
   • a mean abode
3. 3

   Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby.

   • a mean appearance
   • a mean dress
4. 4

   Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base.

   • You hurt her feelings - that was a mean thing to do.
   • It was mean of you to steal that little girl's piggy bank.
5. 5

   Of little value or worth; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.

   • The Roman legions and great Caesar found / Our fathers no mean foes.
6. 6

   Ungenerous; stingy; tight-fisted.UK

   • He's so mean. I've never seen him spend so much as five pounds on presents for his children.
7. 7

   Disobliging; pettily offensive or unaccommodating.

8. 8

   Intending to cause harm, successfully or otherwise; bearing ill will towards another.

   • Watch out for her: she's mean. I said good morning to her, and she punched me in the nose.
9. 9

   Powerful; fierce; strong.

   • It must have been a mean typhoon that levelled this town.
10. 10

    Hearty; spicy.colloquial

    • She wasn’t the most accomplished cook in the world but she cold make a mean stew, she knew how to roast a chicken, and she could whip up eggs at least three different ways.

syn. inconsiderate · insensitive · halfhearted · mean · mean-spirited · merciless · petty · pitiless · poor-spirited · ruthless · thoughtless · tight

ant. compassionate · kindly · nice

1. 1

   Having the mean as its value; average.not-comparable

   • The mean family has 2.4 children.
2. 2

   Middling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable.not-comparableobsolete

   • I have declared in the causes what harm costiveness hath done in procuring this disease; if it be so noxious, the opposite must needs be good, or mean at least, as indeed it is[…].
   • being of middle age and a mean stature

syn. inconsiderate · insensitive · halfhearted · mean · mean-spirited · merciless · petty · pitiless · poor-spirited · ruthless · thoughtless · tight

ant. compassionate · kindly · nice

1. 1

   A method or course of action used to achieve some result.also

   • To say truth, it is a meane full of uncertainty and danger.
   • You may be able, by this mean, to review your own scientific acquirements.
2. 2

   An intermediate step or intermediate steps.obsoletesingular

   • Verily in this treatise this hath been mine only purpose; and the mean to bring the same to effect hath been such as whereby I studied to profit wholesomely, not to please delicately.
   • a. 1623, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi Apply desperate physic: / We must not now use balsamum, but fire, / The smarting cupping-glass, for that's the mean / To purge infected blood, such blood as hers.
3. 3

   Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium.

   • 1875, William Smith and Samuel Cheetham, editors, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, Little, Brown and Company, volume 1, page 10, s.v. Accentus Ecclesiasticus, It presents a sort of mean between speech and song, continually inclining t
4. 4

   The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument.historical

   • Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane, and Treble.
5. 5

   Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency.

   • Note that (1.41) is simply the probability-weighted mean without any explicit allowance for the stratification; each observation is weighted by its inflation factor and the total divided by the total of the inflation factors for the survey.
6. 6

   Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency.; The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms.

   • While the average age of the rioter was 27.8 years, the mean age of the nonrioter was 38.1.
7. 7

   Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2 and 3 in 1:2=3:6.

   • ...if four numbers be in proportion, the product of the first and last, or of the two extremes, is equal to the product of the second and third, or of the two means.
   • Using the means-extremes property of proportions, you know that the product of the extremes equals the product of the means. The ratio t/4 = 5/2 can be rewritten as t:4 = 5:2, in which the extremes are t and 2, and the means are 4 and 5.