mean

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[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Etymology 1

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”).

[edit] Verb

mean (third-person singular simple present means, present participle meaning, simple past and past participle meant)

  1. To intend.
    1. (transitive) To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention. [from 8th c.]
      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.
    2. (intransitive) To have intentions of a given kind. [from 14th c.]
      Don't be angry; she meant well.
    3. (transitive, usually in passive) To intend (something) for a given purpose or fate; to predestine. [from 16th c.]
      Actually this desk was meant for the subeditor.
      Man was not meant to question such things.
  2. To convey meaning.
    1. (transitive) To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea). [from 8th c.]
      I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean.
      The sky is red this morning—does that mean we're in for a storm?
    2. (transitive) Of a word, symbol etc: to have reference to, to signify. [from 8th c.]
      • 2010, Alexander Humez, Nicholas Humez, Rob Flynn, Short Cuts: A Guide to Oaths, Ring Tones, Ransom Notes, Famous Last Words, and Other Forms of Minimalist Communication, Oxford University Press US, ISBN 9780195389135, page 33:
        A term should be included if it's likely that someone would run accross it and want to know what it means. This in turn leads to the somewhat more formal guideline of including a term if it is attested and idiomatic.
      What does this hieroglyph mean?
    3. (transitive) To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says). [from 18th c.]
      Does she really mean what she said to him last night?
      Say what you mean and mean what you say.
    4. (transitive) To result in; to bring about. [from 19th c.]
      One faltering step means certain death.
    5. (transitive) To be important (to). [from 19th c.]
      My home life means a lot to me.
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Translations
to intend; plan on doing
to have intentions of some kind
to convey, indicate
to signify
to have conviction in what one says
to result in; bring about
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] Noun

mean (plural means)

  1. (obsolete, in singular) An intermediate step or intermediate steps.
[edit] Translations
intermediate step
[edit] Quotations

[edit] Etymology 2

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”). 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).

[edit] Adjective

mean (comparative meaner, superlative meanest)

  1. (obsolete) Common; general.
  2. Of a common or low origin, grade, or quality; common; humble.
    a man of mean parentage / a mean abode
  3. Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby.
    a mean appearance / mean dress
  4. Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base.
  5. Niggardly; penurious; miserly; stingy.
    He's so mean. I've never seen him spend so much as five pounds on presents for his children.
  6. Of little value or account; low in worth or estimation; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.
  7. Disobliging; pettily offensive or unaccommodating; small.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Powerful; fierce; harsh; damaging.
    It must have been a mean typhoon that levelled this town.
  11. Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with.
    Your mother can roll a mean cigarette.
    He hits a mean backhand.
[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
causing or intending to cause intentional harm
miserly, stingy
acting without consideration of others
powerful; fierce; harsh; damaging
low in quality; inferior
accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

[edit] Etymology 3

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.

[edit] Adjective

mean (not comparable)

  1. Having the mean (see noun below) as its value.
  2. (obsolete) Middling in quality or excellence; moderately good, tolerable.
    • 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 [...].
[edit] Derived terms
terms derived from mean (adjective)
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
having the mean as its value
middling; moderately good

[edit] Noun

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia mean (plural means)

  1. (now chiefly in the plural) A method or course of action used to achieve some result. [from 14th c.]
    • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.5:
      To say truth, it is a meane full of uncertainty and danger.
    • 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.
  2. Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium. [from 14th c.]
    • 1997, John Llewelyn Davies; David J. Vaughan, Republic, translation of original by Plato, page 263:
      Then will not this constitution be a kind of mean between aristocracy and oligarchy?
    • 1996, Harris Rackham, The Nicomachean Ethics, translation of original by Aristotle, page 118:
      as a mean, it implies certain extremes between which it lies, namely the more and the less
    • 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.
  3. (music, now historical) The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument. [from 15th c.]
    • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 147:
      Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane, and Treble.
  4. (statistics) The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms; the arithmetic mean. [from 15th c.]
  5. (mathematics) 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.
    • 1997, Angus Deaton, The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconometric Approach to Development Policy,[1] 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.
    • 2002, Clifford A. Pickover, The Mathematics of Oz: Mental Gymnastics from Beyond the Edge,[2] 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.
    • 2003, P. S. Bullen, Handbook of Means and Their Inequalities,[3] 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.
  6. (mathematics) Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2 and 3 in 1:2=3:6.
    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
[edit] Hypernyms
[edit] Coordinate terms
[edit] See also
[edit] Derived terms
terms derive from mean (noun)
[edit] Translations
method by which something is done
intermediate value
alto, in music
arithmetic mean
the statistical value
mathematics: either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion

[edit] Etymology 4

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.

[edit] Verb

mean (third-person singular simple present means, present participle meaning, simple past and past participle meaned)

  1. (now Ireland, UK regional) To complain, lament.
  2. (now Ireland, UK regional) To pity; to comfort.
    • 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XII:
      Anone he meaned hym, and wolde have had hym home unto his ermytage.
[edit] Translations
to complain, lament
to pity, comfort

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Anagrams

[edit] Manx

[edit] Etymology

From Old Irish medón (“middle, centre”), from Latin mediānus.

[edit] Noun

mean m.

  1. centre, middle
  2. interior
  3. average
    • Trogmayd mean.
      • We will strike an average.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Scottish Gaelic

[edit] Adjective

mean

  1. little, tiny

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Spanish

[edit] Verb

mean (infinitive mear)

  1. Second-person plural (ustedes) present indicative form of mear.
  2. Third-person plural (ellos, ellas, also used with ustedes?) present indicative form of mear.
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