mean

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To intend.

   • 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.
   • I meant to take the car in for a smog check, but it slipped my mind.
2. 2

   To convey (a meaning).

   • The sky is red this morning—does that mean we're in for a storm?
   • An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.
3. 3

   To have conviction in (something said or expressed)

   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.
4. ›+ 24 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To cause or produce (a given result)

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

      • One faltering step means certain death.
      • This breakthrough will mean that we spend less on electricity bills.
      • It was a goal that meant West Ham won on their first appearance at Wembley in 31 years, in doing so becoming the first team since Leicester in 1996 to bounce straight back to the Premier League through the play-offs.
   2. 5

      To be of some level of importance.

      • That little dog meant everything to me.
      • Formality and titles mean nothing in their circle.
   3. 6

      To lament.

      • All the tyme of his sickness he never said, “Alace!” or meaned any pain, whilk was marvellous. Never man died in greater peace of mind or body.
      • “ If you should die for me, sir knight, “ There’s few for you will mane, “ For many a better has died for me, “ Whose graves are growing green.
   4. 7

      Common

      Common; general.

   5. 8

      Of a common or low origin, grade, or quality

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

      • a man of mean parentage
      • a mean abode
      • Thinke you I weigh this treaſure more than you? Not all the Gold in Indias welthy armes, Shall buy the meaneſt ſouldier in my traine.
   6. 9

      Low in quality or degree

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

      • a mean appearance
      • a mean dress
   7. 10

      Without dignity of mind

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

      • a mean motive
      • It was mean of you to steal that little girl's piggy bank.
      • Can you imagine I ſo mean could prove, / To ſave my Life by changing of my Love?
   8. 11

      Of little value or worth

      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.
   9. 12

      Ungenerous

      Ungenerous; stingy; tight-fisted.

      • He's so mean. I've never seen him spend so much as five pounds on presents for his children.
   10. 13

       Disobliging

       Disobliging; pettily offensive or unaccommodating.

   11. 14

       Intending to cause harm, successfully or otherwise

       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.
   12. 15

       Powerful

       Powerful; fierce; strong.

       • It must have been a mean typhoon that levelled this town.
       • […]in the context of ships available at the time, they were aircraft carrier - fleet carriers. Now, granted, they may not have been the biggest and largest and meanest fleet carriers around, but they certainly were fleet carriers.
   13. 16

       Hearty

       Hearty; spicy.

       • 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.
   14. 17

       Accomplished with great skill

       Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with.

       • Your mother can roll a mean cigarette.
       • He hits a mean backhand.
       • A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs? [title]
   15. 18

       Difficult, tricky.

       • This problem is mean!
   16. 19

       Having the mean as its value

       Having the mean as its value; average.

       • The mean family has 2.4 children.
       • In the mountain region of A-erh-t'ai Shan and Hsiang-t'ien Shan⁷, if the mean west wind velocity is five meters per second, the high tendency at 700mb on the anterior mountain slope may exceed 40 meters in 12 hours.
   17. 20

       Middling

       Middling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable.

       • 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
       • according to the fittest style of lofty, mean, or lowly
   18. 21

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

       • 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.
       • Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean.
   19. 22

       An intermediate step or intermediate steps.

       • 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.
   20. 23

       Something which is intermediate or in the middle

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

       • Then will not this constitution be a kind of mean between aristocracy and oligarchy?
       • as a mean, it implies certain extremes between which it lies, namely the more and the less
   21. 24

       The middle part of three-part polyphonic music

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

       • Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane, and Treble.
   22. 25

       Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number…

       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.

       • Luckily, even though the arithmetic mean is unusable, both the harmonic and geometric means settle to precise values as the amount of data increases.
       • The generalized power means include power means, certain Gini means, in particular the counter-harmonic means.
   23. 26

       Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2…

       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.
       • In #92;frac#123;18#125;#123;27#125;#61;#92;frac23, the product of the means is 2#92;cdot27, and the product of the extremes is 18#92;cdot3. Both products are 54.
   24. 27

       Acronym of MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, Node.js

       Acronym of MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, Node.js: a software stack for developing web sites with both client-side and server-side use of JavaScript.

The neighborhood

• synonyminconsiderate
• synonyminsensitive
• synonymhalfhearted
• synonymmean
• synonymmean-spirited
• synonymmerciless
• synonympetty
• synonympitiless
• synonympoor-spirited
• synonymruthless
• synonymthoughtless
• synonymtight
• antonymcompassionate
• antonymkindly
• antonymnice
• neighborgrim
• neighborharsh
• neighborhumorless
• neighborstern
• neighborcruel
• neighbordespicable
• neighbormalevolent
• neighbormalicious
• neighborunjust
• neighbormedian
• neighbormediate
• neighbormediation