Etymology 1

Verb

1. To convey, signify, or indicate.

   What does this hieroglyph mean?

   The sky is red this morning—does that mean we're in for a storm?

2. To want or intend to convey.

   I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean.

   Say what you mean and mean what you say.

3. To intend; to plan on doing.

   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.

4. To have conviction in what one says.

   Does she really mean what she said to him last night?

   Say what you mean and mean what you say.

5. To have intentions of a some kind.

   Don't be angry; she meant well.

   Someone's coming up. He means business.

6. To result in; to bring about.

   One faltering step means certain death.

Usage notes

• In sense 3, this is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
• In sense 6, it takes the gerund (-ing).

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

Etymology 2

Adjective

1. 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.

2. Miserly; stingy.

   He's so mean. I've never seen him spend so much as five pounds on presents for his children.

3. 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.

4. Powerful; fierce; harsh; damaging.

   It must have been a mean typhoon that levelled this town.

5. Accomplished with great skill; deft; hard to compete with.

   Your mother can roll a mean cigarette.

   He hits a mean backhand.

6. Low in quality; inferior.

• (causing or intending to cause intentional harm): cruel, malicious, nasty, spiteful See also Wikisaurus:stingy
• (acting without consideration of others): selfish, unkind
• (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)

Etymology 3

Related terms

• medium
• mediate
• mediation
• mediator
• median
• mediocre
• mediocrity

Noun

1. The average, the arithmetic mean.
2. Loosely, an intermediate value or range of values; a mid-value; a vague average.
   • 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. 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, 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, 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, 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.

4. 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 $\backslash frac\{18\}\{27\}=\backslash frac23$, the product of the means is $2\backslash cdot27$, and the product of the extremes is $18\backslash cdot3$. Both products are 54.