mediate

See also: médiate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin mediatus, past participle of mediare (“to divide in the middle”) (in Medieval Latin, also “to be in the middle, be or become between, mediate”), from Latin medius (“middle”).

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /ˈmidieɪt/
• (adjective) IPA^(key): /ˈmidi.ət/

Verb

1. (transitive) To resolve differences, or to bring about a settlement, between conflicting parties.
2. (intransitive) To intervene between conflicting parties in order to resolve differences or bring about a settlement.
3. To divide into two equal parts.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Holder to this entry?)

4. To act as an intermediary causal or communicative agent; convey
5. To act as a spiritualistic medium.

Related terms

• mean
• median
• mediation
• mediator
• medium

Translations

resolve differences

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 經調解達成, 经调解达成 (jīng tiáojiě dáchéng)

• Finnish: sovitella (fi), toimia välittäjänä, välittää (fi)
• German: schlichten (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: μεσιτεύω (mesiteúō)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: mediare (it)
• Romanian: media (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: pòsredovati (sh)
• Spanish: mediar (es)
• Swedish: medla (sv), förhandla (sv), förlika (sv)

intervene between conflicting parties

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 調解／调解 (zh) (tiáojiě), 调解 (zh) (tiáojiě)

• Finnish: sovitella (fi), välittää (fi)
• German: vermitteln (de)
• Greek: μεσολαβώ (el) (mesolavó)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: közbenjár (hu), közvetít (hu)
• Italian: mediare (it)
• Serbo-Croatian: pòsredovati (sh)
• Spanish: mediar (es), terciar (es)
• Swedish: medla (sv)

act as communicative agent

• Latvian: būt par vidutāju
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: vehicular (es)

Adjective

mediate

1. Acting through a mediating agency, indirect.
   • 1861, Sir William Hamilton, The Metaphysics of Sir William Hamilton (page 318)

     The Leibnitzio-Wolfians distinguish three acts in the process of representative cognition: — 1° the act of representing a (mediate) object to the mind; 2° the representation, or, to speak more properly, representamen, itself as an (immediate or vicarious) object exhibited to the mind; 3° the act by which the mind is conscious, immediately of the representative object, and, through it, mediately of the remote object represented.

   • (Can we date this quote by Oliver Sacks and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Vygotsky saw the development of language and mental powers as neither learned, in the ordinary way, nor emerging epigenetically, but as being social and mediate in nature, as arising from the interaction of adult and child, and as internalizing the cultural instrument of language for the processes of thought.

2. Intermediate between extremes.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Prior to this entry?)

3. Gained or effected by a medium or condition.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

Derived terms

• immediate
• immediately
• mediately

Translations

Acting through a mediating agency

• Swedish: medelbar (sv), indirekt (sv)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

intermediate — see intermediate

Further reading

• “mediate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “mediate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• medaite

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Italian

Adjective

mediate f pl

1. feminine plural of mediato

Verb

mediate

1. second-person plural present of mediare
2. second-person plural present subjunctive of mediare
3. second-person plural imperative of mediare
4. feminine plural past participle of mediare

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Latin

Participle

(deprecated template usage) mediāte

1. vocative masculine singular of mediātus