Mean

Verb

 * 1) To intend.
 * 2)  To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention.
 * I didn't mean to knock your tooth out.
 * I mean to go to Baddeck this summer.
 * I meant to take the car in for a smog check, but it slipped my mind.
 * 1)  To have intentions of a given kind.
 * Don't be angry; she meant well.
 * 1)  To intend (something) for a given purpose or fate; to predestine.
 * Actually this desk was meant for the subeditor.
 * Man was not meant to question such things.
 * 1) To convey meaning.
 * 2)  To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea).
 * I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean.
 * The sky is red this morning&mdash;does that mean we're in for a storm?
 * 1)  Of a word, symbol etc: to have reference to, to signify.
 * What does this hieroglyph mean?
 * 1)  To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).
 * Does she really mean what she said to him last night?
 * Say what you mean and mean what you say.
 * 1)  To result in; to bring about.
 * One faltering step means certain death.
 * 1)  To be important (to).
 * My home life means a lot to me.

Synonyms

 * (convey, signify, indicate): convey, indicate, signify
 * (want or intend to convey): imply, mean to say
 * (intend; plan on doing): intend
 * (have conviction in what one says): be serious
 * (have intentions of a some kind):
 * (result in; bring about): bring about, cause, lead to, result in

Noun

 * 1)  An intermediate step or intermediate steps.

Adjective

 * 1) Causing or intending to cause intentional harm; bearing ill will towards another; cruel; malicious.
 * Watch out for her, she's mean. I said good morning to her, and she punched me in the nose.
 * 1) Miserly; stingy.
 * ''He's so mean. I've never seen him spend so much as five pounds on presents for his children.
 * 1) Selfish; acting without consideration of others; unkind.
 * It was mean to steal the girl's piggy bank, but he just had to get uptown and he had no cash of his own.
 * 1) Powerful; fierce; harsh; damaging.
 * It must have been a mean typhoon that levelled this town.
 * 1) Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with.
 * Your mother can roll a mean cigarette.
 * He hits a mean backhand.
 * 1) Low in quality; inferior.

Synonyms

 * (causing or intending to cause intentional harm): cruel, malicious, nasty, spiteful
 * See also Thesaurus:stingy
 * (acting without consideration of others): selfish, unkind
 * (powerful): damaging, fierce, harsh, strong
 * (accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with): deft, skilful (UK), skillful (US), top-notch
 * (inferior): cheap, grotty, inferior, low-quality, naff (UK slang), rough and ready, shoddy, tacky

Derived terms

 * meanie
 * meanness
 * meany

Adjective

 * 1) Having the mean (see noun below) as its value.
 * 2)  Middling in quality or excellence; moderately good, tolerable.
 * 3) * 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.ii.2:
 * 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 [...].

Derived terms

 * mean distance
 * mean time


 * mean solar time
 * mean sun

Related terms

 * medium
 * mediate
 * mediation
 * mediator
 * median
 * mediocre
 * mediocrity

Noun

 * 1)  A method or course of action used to achieve some result.
 * 2) * 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.5:
 * To say truth, it is a meane full of uncertainty and danger.
 * 1) * 2011, "Rival visions", The Economist, 14 Apr 2011:
 * Mr Obama produced an only slightly less ambitious goal for deficit reduction than the House Republicans, albeit working from a more forgiving baseline: $4 trillion over 12 years compared to $4.4 trillion over 10 years. But the means by which he would achieve it are very different.
 * 1) Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium.
 * 2) * 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 towards the latter, never altogether leaving its hold on the former; it is speech, though always attuned speech, in passages of average interest and importance; it is song, though always distinct and articulate song, in passages demanding more fervid utterance.
 * 1)  The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument.
 * 2) * 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 147:
 * Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane, and Treble.
 * 1)  The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms; the arithmetic mean.
 * 2)  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.
 * 3) * 1997, Angus Deaton, The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconometric Approach to Development Policy, World Bank Publications, ISBN 9780801852541, page 51:
 * 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.
 * 1) * 2002, Clifford A. Pickover, The Mathematics of Oz: Mental Gymnastics from Beyond the Edge, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521016780, page 246:
 * Luckily, even though the arithmetic mean is unusable, both the harmonic and geometric means settle to precise values as the amount of data increases.
 * 1) * 2003, P. S. Bullen, Handbook of Means and Their Inequalities, Springer, ISBN 978-1-4020-1522-9, page 251:
 * The generalized power means include power means, certain Gini means, in particular the counter-harmonic means.
 * 1)  Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2 and 3 in 1:2=3:6.
 * 2) * 1825, John Farrar, translator, An Elementary Treatise on Arithmetic by Silvestre François Lacroix, third edition, page 102,
 * ...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.
 * 1) * 1999, Dawn B. Sova, How to Solve Word Problems in Geometry, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 007134652X, page 85,
 * 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.
 * 1) * 2007, Carolyn C. Wheater, Homework Helpers: Geometry, Career Press, ISBN 1564147215, page 99,
 * In $$\frac{18}{27}=\frac23$$, the product of the means is $$2\cdot27$$, and the product of the extremes is $$18\cdot3$$. Both products are 54.
 * 1) * 2007, Carolyn C. Wheater, Homework Helpers: Geometry, Career Press, ISBN 1564147215, page 99,
 * In $$\frac{18}{27}=\frac23$$, the product of the means is $$2\cdot27$$, and the product of the extremes is $$18\cdot3$$. Both products are 54.

Hypernyms

 * measure of central tendency, measure of location, sample statistic

Coordinate terms

 * median, mode

Derived terms

 * arithmetic mean
 * Cesàro mean
 * Chisini mean
 * contraharmonic mean
 * generalised f-mean
 * generalized f-mean
 * geometric mean
 * harmonic mean


 * Heronian mean
 * Hölder mean
 * logarithmic mean
 * power mean
 * quadratic mean
 * quasi-arithmetic mean
 * root mean square

Verb

 * 1)  To complain, lament.
 * 2)  To pity; to comfort.
 * 3) * 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XII:
 * Anone he meaned hym, and wolde have had hym home unto his ermytage.

Thesaurus
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, 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, 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, golden mean, grave, great, groovy, gross, 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, measly, medial, median, mediocre, 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, pocket, 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, 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, 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

Etymology 1
From menen:, from  mænan:, from, from. Cognate with miene:, Dutch menen:, German meinen:. Related to mind and German Minne:.

Etymology 2
From mene:, imene:, from  mæne:, gemæne:, from, from. Cognate with mien:, Dutch gemeen:, German gemein:, Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃:, Latin communis: (Old Latin comoinem:).

Etymology 3
From meene:, from  meien: (French moyen:), Late Latin medianus:, from medius:. Cognate with mid:.

Etymology 4
From menen:, from  mænan:, from, , from. Related to man:,  meineed:,  Meineid:,  men:; see.

Verb

 * Catalan: pretendre
 * Czech: ,
 * Dutch: willen doen, van plan zijn
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish:
 * French: avoir l'intention de
 * German:
 * Italian: volere, avere l'intenzione di
 * Japanese: 意図する (いとする, ito-suru), するつもり (suru-tsumori)


 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:, , ter a intenção de
 * Romanian:, avea intenţia,
 * Russian:, намереваться
 * Spanish: ,
 * Swedish:
 * Telugu: పధకము వేయు, అనుకోవడము
 * Thai: ตั้งใจ


 * Dutch: ,
 * Esperanto:
 * Italian:
 * Japanese: 意図する (いとする, ito-suru), するつもり (suru-tsumori)
 * Portuguese:


 * Russian:
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish:
 * Telugu: అర్ధం ఏమిటి


 * Arabic: (`anaa)
 * Catalan:
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 意味 (yìwèi), 是...的意思 (shì...-de yìsi)
 * Czech:
 * Danish:
 * Dutch: betekenen, willen zeggen
 * Esperanto: voli diri, signifi
 * Finnish:, , tietää
 * French: ,
 * German:
 * Hungarian:
 * Italian:


 * Japanese: 意味する (imi suru)
 * Korean: 의미하다 (uimihada)
 * Norwegian:
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese: querer dizer,
 * Romanian: a semnifica, indica,
 * Russian: ,
 * Scottish Gaelic:
 * Spanish: ,
 * Swedish:, innebära
 * Telugu: అనుకొనుట
 * Thai: หมายถึง, หมายความ


 * Catalan: voler dir, significar
 * Danish:
 * Dutch:, betekenen
 * Esperanto:, voli diri
 * French:, signifier
 * German: ,
 * Hebrew: (hitkaven)
 * Italian:


 * Japanese: 意味する (imi-suru)
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian: a vrea să spună
 * Russian:
 * Spanish: querer decir
 * Swedish: mena, betyda, syfta på
 * Telugu: ఫలితము


 * Dutch:
 * German:
 * Italian:
 * Japanese: 意味する (imi-suru)
 * Portuguese: ter convicção, falar sério


 * Romanian: am convingerea
 * Russian: иметь в виду (im'ét' v vidú),
 * Spanish: decir en serio
 * Swedish:


 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto:
 * German:
 * Italian:, ,
 * Japanese: 意味する (imi-suru)


 * Portuguese: ,
 * Russian: ,
 * Spanish: (un resultado)
 * Swedish: betyda, innebära


 * : berarti, artinya, bermaksud, maksudnya
 * : signifikar
 * : voler dicer (1); significar (2); intender, haber le intention de (3); mantener un opinion (4)

Noun

 * Portuguese: ,

Adjective

 * Arabic: لئيم, خسيس
 * Basque:, gaizto
 * Dutch: gemeen, gemene, boosaardig, boosaardige
 * Esperanto: ,
 * Finnish:
 * French: méchant, cruel
 * German:
 * Greek:


 * Italian:, ,  ,
 * Japanese: どうかしている (dōka-shiteiru)
 * Kurdish:
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Russian: ,
 * Spanish:, ,
 * Swedish:
 * Telugu: కారణమగుట


 * Italian:, ,
 * Portuguese:, ,


 * Spanish: ,
 * Turkish:


 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto: ,
 * German: ,
 * Greek:
 * Italian:, ,
 * Japanese: 意地が悪い (iji-ga-warui), 意地悪 (ijiwaru)


 * Kurdish:
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Russian:
 * Spanish: desconsiderado
 * Swedish: ,
 * Telugu: స్వార్ధము


 * Dutch:
 * Greek:
 * Italian:, ,
 * Japanese: 厄介な (yakkai-na)


 * Portuguese: ,
 * Spanish:
 * Telugu: శక్తివంతమైన, భయంకరమైన, దురుసు, పాడుచేయు


 * Dutch: minderwaardig, minderwaardige
 * Esperanto: malbonkvalita
 * French: ,
 * German:
 * Greek:


 * Italian:, ,
 * Japanese: 悪い (warui)
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Spanish: ,
 * Telugu: నాణ్యత లేని


 * Italian:, ,  ,
 * Portuguese:, ,


 * Spanish:
 * Telugu: కష్ట సాధ్యము


 * : 卑鄙 (bēibǐ)
 * : buruk hati, kikir, pemarah, rata-rata
 * : mal, perverse, contemptibile (1); inferior (2); insuperabile, superior (3)

Adjective

 * Armenian:
 * Catalan:
 * Dutch: ,
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * German: Mittel-
 * Greek:, ,


 * Interlingua: medie
 * Italian:
 * Japanese: 平均の (heikin-no), 平均的な (heikinteki-na)
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:
 * Russian:
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish: ,


 * Portuguese:

Noun

 * Czech:
 * Danish: middel
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish:, ,
 * French:
 * German:
 * Hebrew: אמצעי


 * Interlingua: medio, ressource
 * Italian:
 * Portuguese: ,
 * Scottish Gaelic:
 * Spanish: ,
 * Swahili:
 * Telugu: పూర్తి అయింది
 * Turkish:


 * Dutch:
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * German:
 * Indonesian: rata-rata
 * Interlingua: media
 * Italian:


 * Japanese: 平均 (へいきん, hēkin), 平均値  (へいきんち, hēkinchi)
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:, ,
 * Scottish Gaelic: meadhan, cuibheas, cuibheasachd
 * Spanish:
 * Swedish: ,


 * Catalan: mitjana
 * Czech:
 * Italian:
 * Portuguese:


 * Romanian:
 * Scottish Gaelic:, cuibheas, cuibheasachd
 * Spanish:


 * Greek: μέσος όρος (mésos óros)
 * Italian:


 * Portuguese:
 * Scottish Gaelic:, cuibheas, cuibheasachd


 * Portuguese:

Verb

 * Portuguese: ,


 * Portuguese: ,

Anagrams

 * Amen, amen, mane, MENA, NAmE, name, NEMA, NMEA

Noun

 * 1) centre, middle
 * 2) * Share   mean ny h-   er vaih.
 * 3) ** Better to change horses in mid ford than to drown.
 * 4) interior
 * 5) * Tar ayns mean y.
 * 6) ** Come into the body of the church.
 * 7) average
 * 8) * Trogmayd mean.
 * 9) ** We will strike an average.

Etymology
From medón: <   medianus:.

Adjective

 * 1) little, tiny