MEAN

bastardly, mean

(adjective) of no value or worth; “I was caught in the bastardly traffic”

beggarly, mean

(adjective) (used of sums of money) so small in amount as to deserve contempt

mean, mingy, miserly, tight

(adjective) (used of persons or behavior) characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity; “a mean person”; “he left a miserly tip”

hateful, mean

(adjective) characterized by malice; “a hateful thing to do”; “in a mean mood”

base, mean, meanspirited

(adjective) having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality; “that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble”- Edmund Burke; “taking a mean advantage”; “chok’d with ambition of the meaner sort”- Shakespeare; “something essentially vulgar and meanspirited in politics”

average, mean

(adjective) approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value; “the average income in New England is below that of the nation”; “of average height for his age”; “the mean annual rainfall”

beggarly, mean

(adjective) marked by poverty befitting a beggar; “a beggarly existence in the slums”; “a mean hut”

mean

(adjective) excellent; “famous for a mean backhand”

mean, mean value

(noun) an average of n numbers computed by adding some function of the numbers and dividing by some function of n

intend, mean, think

(verb) have in mind as a purpose; “I mean no harm”; “I only meant to help you”; “She didn’t think to harm me”; “We thought to return early that night”

mean

(verb) destine or designate for a certain purpose; “These flowers were meant for you”

mean, intend, signify, stand for

(verb) denote or connote; “‘maison’ means ‘house’ in French”; “An example sentence would show what this word means”

mean, intend

(verb) mean or intend to express or convey; “You never understand what I mean!”; “what do his words intend?”

entail, imply, mean

(verb) have as a logical consequence; “The water shortage means that we have to stop taking long showers”

mean

(verb) have a specified degree of importance; “My ex-husband means nothing to me”; “Happiness means everything”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology 1

Verb

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

To intend.

(transitive) To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention. [from 8th c.]

(intransitive) To have as intentions of a given kind. [from 14th c.]

(transitive, usually in passive) To intend (something) for a given purpose or fate; to predestine. [from 16th c.]

(transitive) To intend an ensuing comment or statement as an explanation.

To convey (a meaning).

(transitive) To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea). [from 8th c.]

(transitive) Of a word, symbol etc: to have reference to, to signify. [from 8th c.]

(transitive) Of a person (or animal etc): to intend to express, to imply, to hint at, to allude.

(transitive) To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says). [from 18th c.]

(transitive) To cause or produce (a given result); to bring about (a given result). [from 19th c.]

(usually with to) To be of some level of importance.

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

Verb

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

(Ireland, UK regional) To lament.

Etymology 2

Adjective

mean (comparative meaner, superlative meanest)

(obsolete) Common; general.

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

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

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

• Ivanhoe (1952 film)

Of little value or worth; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.

(chiefly, UK) Ungenerous; stingy; tight-fisted.

Disobliging; pettily offensive or unaccommodating

Selfish; acting without consideration of others; unkind.

Intending to cause harm, successfully or otherwise; bearing ill will towards another

Synonyms: cruel, malicious

Powerful; fierce; strong

Synonyms: harsh, damaging

(colloquial) Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with.

(informal, often, childish) Difficult, tricky.

Synonyms

• (intending to cause harm, successfully or otherwise): cruel, malicious, nasty, spiteful

• (miserly; stingy): See also stingy

• (low-minded; acting without consideration of others): base, ignoble, selfish, unkind, vile

• (powerful): damaging, fierce, harsh, strong

• (accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with): deft, skilful (UK), skillful (US), top-notch

• (inferior): cheap, grotty (slang), inferior, low-quality, naff (UK slang), rough and ready, shoddy, tacky (informal)

Antonyms

• (low-minded; acting without consideration of others): lofty, noble, honorable

Etymology 3

Adjective

mean (not comparable)

Having the mean (see noun below) as its value.

(obsolete) Middling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable.

Noun

mean (plural means)

(now, chiefly, in the plural) A method or course of action used to achieve some result. [from 14th c.]

(obsolete, in the singular) An intermediate step or intermediate steps.

Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium. [from 14th c.]

(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.]

(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.]

(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.

(mathematics) Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2 and 3 in 1:2=3:6.

Hypernyms

• (statistics): measure of central tendency, measure of location, sample statistic

Coordinate terms

• (statistics): median, mode

Anagrams

• -mane, -nema, Amen, Eman, Enma, MENA, Mena, NAmE, NEMA, NMEA, amen, mane, mnae, name, namé, neam, ñame

Proper noun

MEAN

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

Anagrams

• -mane, -nema, Amen, Eman, Enma, MENA, Mena, NAmE, NEMA, NMEA, amen, mane, mnae, name, namé, neam, ñame

Source: Wiktionary

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Mean, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Meant; p. pr. & vb. n. Meaning.] Etym: [OE. menen, AS. mænan to recite, tell, intend, wish; akin to OS. menian to have in mind, mean, D. meenen, G. meinen, OHG. meinan, Icel. meina, Sw. mena, Dan. mene, and to E. mind. Mind, and cf. Moan.]

1. To have in the mind, as a purpose, intention, etc.; to intend; to purpose; to design; as, what do you mean to do What mean ye by this service Ex. xii. 26. Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good. Gen. 1. 20. I am not a Spaniard To say that it is yours and not to mean it. Longfellow.

2. To signify; to indicate; to import; to denote. What mean these seven ewe lambs Gen. xxi. 29. Go ye, and learn what that me. Matt. ix. 13.

Mean, v. i.

Definition: To have a purpose or intention. [Rare, except in the phrase to mean well, or ill.] Shak.

Mean, a. [Compar. Meaner; superl. Meanest.] Etym: [OE. mene, AS. m wicked; akin to man, a., wicked, n., wickedness, OS. m wickedness, OHG. mein, G. meineid perjury, Icel. mein harm, hurt, and perh. to AS. gem common, general, D. gemeen, G. gemein, Goth. gamáins, and L. communis. The AS. gem prob. influenced the meaning.]

1. Destitute of distinction or eminence; common; low; vulgar; humble. "Of mean parentage." Sir P. Sidney. The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself. Is. ii. 9.

2. Wanting dignity of mind; low-minded; base; destitute of honor; spiritless; as, a mean motive. Can you imagine I so mean could prove, To save my life by changing of my love Dryden.

3. Of little value or account; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable. The Roman legions and great Cæsar found Our fathers no mean foes. J. Philips.

4. Of poor quality; as, mean fare.

5. Penurious; stingy; close-fisted; illiberal; as, mean hospitality.

Note: Mean is sometimes used in the formation of compounds, the sense of which is obvious without explanation; as, meanborn, mean-looking, etc.

Syn.

– Base; ignoble; abject; beggarly; wretched; degraded; degenerate; vulgar; vile; servile; menial; spiritless; groveling; slavish; dishonorable; disgraceful; shameful; despicable; contemptible; paltry; sordid. See Base.

Mean, a. Etym: [OE. mene, OF. meiien, F. moyen, fr. L. medianus that is in the middle, fr. medius; akin to E. mid. See Mid.]

1. Occupying a middle position; middle; being about midway between extremes. Being of middle age and a mean stature. Sir. P. Sidney.

2. Intermediate in excellence of any kind. According to the fittest style of lofty, mean, or lowly. Milton.

3. (Math.)

Definition: Average; having an intermediate value between two extremes, or between the several successive values of a variable quantity during one cycle of variation; as, mean distance; mean motion; mean solar day. Mean distance (of a planet from the sun) (Astron.), the average of the distances throughout one revolution of the planet, equivalent to the semi-major axis of the orbit.

– Mean error (Math. Phys.), the average error of a number of observations found by taking the mean value of the positive and negative errors without regard to sign.

– Mean-square error, or Error of the mean square (Math. Phys.), the error the square of which is the mean of the squares of all the errors; -- called also, especially by European writers, mean error.

– Mean line. (Crystallog.) Same as Bisectrix.

– Mean noon, noon as determined by mean time.

– Mean proportional (between two numbers) (Math.), the square root of their product.

– Mean sun, a fictitious sun supposed to move uniformly in the equator so as to be on the meridian each day at mean noon.

– Mean time, time as measured by an equable motion, as of a perfect clock, or as reckoned on the supposition that all the days of the year are of a mean or uniform length, in contradistinction from apparent time, or that actually indicated by the sun, and from sidereal time, or that measured by the stars.

Mean, n.

1. That which is mean, or intermediate, between two extremes of place, time, or number; the middle point or place; middle rate or degree; mediocrity; medium; absence of extremes or excess; moderation; measure. But to speak in a mean, the virtue of prosperity is temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude. Bacon. There is a mean in all things. Dryden. The extremes we have mentioned, between which the wellinstracted Christian holds the mean, are correlatives. I. Taylor.

2. (Math.)

Definition: A quantity having an intermediate value between several others, from which it is derived, and of which it expresses the resultant value; usually, unless otherwise specified, it is the simple average, formed by adding the quantities together and dividing by their number, which is called an arithmetical mean. A geometrical mean is the square root of the product of the quantities.

3. That through which, or by the help of which, an end is attained; something tending to an object desired; intermediate agency or measure; necessary condition or coagent; instrument. Their virtuous conversation was a mean to work the conversion of the heathen to Christ. Hooker. You may be able, by this mean, to review your own scientific acquirements. Coleridge. Philosophical doubt is not an end, but a mean. Sir W. Hamilton.

Note: In this sense the word is usually employed in the plural form means, and often with a singular attribute or predicate, as if a singular noun. By this means he had them more at vantage. Bacon. What other means is left unto us. Shak.

4. pl.

Definition: Hence: Resources; property, revenue, or the like, considered as the condition of easy livelihood, or an instrumentality at command for effecting any purpose; disposable force or substance. Your means are very slender, and your waste is great. Shak.

5. (Mus.)

Definition: A part, whether alto or tenor, intermediate between the soprano and base; a middle part. [Obs.] The mean is drowned with your unruly base. Shak.

6. Meantime; meanwhile. [Obs.] Spenser.

7. A mediator; a go-between. [Obs.] Piers Plowman. He wooeth her by means and by brokage. Chaucer. By all means, certainly; without fail; as, go, by all means.

– By any means, in any way; possibly; at all. If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Phil. iii. ll.

– By no means, or By no manner of means, not at all; certainly not; not in any degree. The wine on this side of the lake is by no means so good as that on the other. Addison.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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