mean

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To intend.
  2. To intend, to plan (to do); to have as one's intention.
  3. To have as intentions of a given kind.
  4. To intend (something) for a given purpose or fate; to predestine.
  5. To intend an ensuing comment or statement as an explanation.
  6. To convey (a meaning).
  7. To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea).
  8. Of a word, symbol etc: to have reference to, to signify.
  9. Of a person (or animal etc): to intend to express, to imply, to hint at, to allude.
  10. To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).
  11. To cause or produce (a given result); to bring about (a given result).
  12. To be of some level of importance.
adj
  1. Common; general.
  2. Of a common or low origin, grade, or quality; common; humble.
  3. Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby.
  4. Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base.
  5. Of little value or worth; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.
  6. Ungenerous; stingy; tight-fisted.
  7. Disobliging; pettily offensive or unaccommodating.
  8. Intending to cause harm, successfully or otherwise; bearing ill will towards another.
  9. Powerful; fierce; strong.
  10. Hearty; spicy.
  11. Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with.
  12. Difficult, tricky.
adj
  1. Having the mean as its value; average.
  2. Middling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable.
noun
  1. A method or course of action used to achieve some result.
  2. An intermediate step or intermediate steps.
  3. Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium.
  4. The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument.
  5. 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.
  6. The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms.
  7. Either of the two numbers in the middle of a conventionally presented proportion, as 2 and 3 in 1:2=3:6.
name
  1. 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.

Pronunciation

mēn /miːn/ /mijən/ /min/ en-us-mean.ogg

Word forms

mean means meaning meant meaner meanest myn

Etymology

From Middle English menen (“to intend; remember; lament; comfort”), from Old English mǣnan (“to mean, complain”), Proto-West Germanic *mainijan, from Proto-Germanic *mainijaną (“to mean, think; complain”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyn- (“to think”), or perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *meyno-, extended form of Proto-Indo-European *mey-. Germanic cognates include West Frisian miene (“to deem, think”) (Old Frisian mēna (“to signify”)), Dutch menen (“to believe, think, mean”) (Middle Dutch menen (“to think, intend”)), German meinen (“to think, mean, believe”), Old Saxon mēnian. Indo-European cognates include Old Irish mían (“wish, desire”) and Polish mienić (“to signify, believe”). Non-Indo-European cognates include Finnish mainita (“to mention”), Finnish meinata (“to mean, to plan, to intend”) Estonian mainima (“to mention”), Northern Sami máinnastit (“to tell”). Related to moan.

Translations

Bulgarian: възнамерявам Bulgarian: знача Catalan: pretendre Catalan: significar Cherokee: ᎤᏰᎸᎭ Czech: chtít Czech: plánovat Dutch: willen Dutch: van plan zijn Dutch: betekenen Esperanto: intenci Finnish: aikoa Finnish: merkitä French: avoir l'intention French: entendre faire Galician: pretender German: beabsichtigen Hebrew: התכוון Hebrew: הִתְכַּוֵּן Hebrew: אָמַר Hindi: चाह Hungarian: akar Hungarian: tervez Hungarian: szándékozik Hungarian: szándékában áll Hungarian: jelent Hungarian: számít Icelandic: ætla Indonesian: bermaksud Italian: volere Italian: avere intenzione Italian: aver l'intenzione Italian: intendere Italian: tenerci Japanese: 意図する Japanese: するつもり Korean: 의도(意圖)하다 Latin: volo Latin: habeo in animo Macedonian: сака Old English: þenċan Old English: willan Polish: chcieć Portuguese: pretender Portuguese: tencionar Romanian: vrea Romanian: dori Romanian: intenționa Romanian: însemna Russian: собира́ться Russian: намерева́ться Spanish: pretender Spanish: intentar Spanish: intencionar Spanish: significar Spanish: importar Swedish: tänka Tagalog: sadyain Tagalog: kusain Tagalog: tikisin Telugu: పధకము వేయు Telugu: అనుకోవడము Thai: ตั้งใจ Turkish: plânlamak Turkish: tasarlamak Ukrainian: збира́тися Walloon: awè idêye Arabic: مُتَوَسِّط Bulgarian: средно Finnish: keskiluku French: moyenne Greek: μέσος όρος Icelandic: meðaltal Italian: media Malay: min Māori: toharite Māori: tau toharite Portuguese: média Russian: сре́днее Scottish Gaelic: meadhan Scottish Gaelic: cuibheas Scottish Gaelic: cuibheasachd Spanish: media
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