means

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

See mean.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /miːnz/, X-SAMPA: /mi:nz/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːnz

Noun

means

1. Plural form of mean
2. (countable, singular and plural) An instrument or condition for attaining a purpose.
   • 1622, Francis Bacon, History of the reign of King Henry VII:

     And by this means also he had them the more at vantage, being tired and harassed with a long march; and more at mercy, being cut off far from their country, and therefore not able by any sudden flight to get to retreat, and to renew their troubles.

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act V, Scene 1:

     Our hope in him is dead: let us return,
     And strain what other means is left unto us
     In our dear peril.

   She treated him as a means to an end.

3. (uncountable, plural only) Resources; riches.
   • 1676, Richard Baxter, A Treatise of Justifying Righteousness, page 163:

     Where there is much means to be used, and conditions yet to be performed, for the continuation and Consummation of our Justification, there it is not yet continued or consummate.

   • 1888, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels editor, The Communist Manifesto, page 5:

     Because there is too much civilisation, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce

   • 1921, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary, Authorizing association of producers of agricultural products, page 99:

     Then the other 12 packers […] were men without much means, who lived in Fresno

   • 1955, Rex Stout, “Die Like a Dog”, in Three Witnesses, Bantam Books, ISBN 055324959, page 154:

     Some kind of writer. He didn't have to make a living; he had means.

   a person of means

   independent means

Usage notes

Frequently contrasted with end (“goal”), as in “a means to an end”. Similar contrast is process vs. product.

Synonyms

• wherewithal

Translations

resources

• Czech: prostředky (cs) m pl
• Dutch: middelen n pl
• German: Mittel (de) n
• Swahili: viombo (sw)

• Telugu: మూలాధారాలు (te) (muladharalu)
• Turkish: kaynak (tr)
• Zulu: icebo (zu) 5/6, isu (zu) 5/6

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

• Indonesian: alat, peralatan
• Japanese: 道具 (どうぐ, dōgu), 手段 (しゅだん, shudan)

Verb

means

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of mean.

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: hundred · believe · white · #282: means · thus · order · near

Anagrams

• amens
• manes
• manse
• mensa, Mensa
• names

---

Latin

Etymology

Present active participle of meō (“go along, traverse”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /ˈme.aːns/

Participle

meāns m, f, and n (genitive meantis); third declension

1. going along, passing, traversing

Inflection

Number	Singular			Plural
Case \ Gender	M.F.	N.		MM.FF.	NN.
nominative	meāns	meāns		meantēs	meantia
genitive	meantis	meantis		meantium	meantium
dative	meantī	meantī		meantibus	meantibus
accusative	meantem	meāns		meantēs	meantia
ablative	meante1	meante1		meantibus	meantibus
vocative	meāns	meāns		meantēs	meantia

¹ But meantī when used purely as an adjective.