mediate
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmidieɪt/
ipa: /ˈmidi.ət/
Forms: form: mediates
form: mediating
form: mediated
form: mediated
Etymology: The adjective is first attested in the 1440's in Middle English, the verb in 1538; from Middle English mediat(e) (“intermediate; intercessory”), borrowed from Late Latin mediātus, perfect passive participle of mediō (“to divide in the middle; (in Medieval Latin) to be in the middle, be or become between, mediate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from medius (“middle”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).
Senses: examples: text: Negotiators managed to mediate a ceasefire.
glosses: To resolve differences, or to bring about a settlement, between conflicting parties.
examples: text: "Nay," replied Charles, gravely, "this is carrying your anger too far. Allow me to mediate between you. I must entreat, nay, I command, the Lady Francesca's presence."
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XLII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 352:
glosses: To intervene between conflicting parties in order to resolve differences or bring about a settlement.
examples: text: Then, Meaſuring Land, by vvalking over it, they ſtyled a Double-ſtep (i.e. the Space from the elevation of one Foot, to the ſame Foot ſet dovvn again, mediated by a ſtep of the other Foot) a Pace, equal to 5 Foot; a Thouſand of vvhich Paces made a Mile, vvhich is a Meaſure ſerving for any diſtance on Earth, and even for the Height of the Sphears.
ref: 1694, William Holder, “Of Measure in General. § More Particularly of Time; and Difficulties Concerning It.”, in A Discourse Concerning Time, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall, for L[uke] Meredith, […], →OCLC, page 6:
glosses: To divide into two equal parts.
examples: text: He had some advantage in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was longer than mine, […] His obvious malignity of purpose never for a moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and strategem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he mediated the most desperate catastrophe to our rencounter.
ref: 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 251–252:
text: [A]s much as language in our modern technological world is mediated through the written word, quantitatively spoken language still reigns supreme.
ref: 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 8:
glosses: To act as an intermediary causal or communicative agent; to convey.
glosses: To act as a spiritualistic medium.
glosses: To communicate via media; to frame; to provide a cultural narrative about.
Derived terms: antibody-mediated rejection
electromediated
hypermediated
immunomediate
mediatable
mediatingly
mediative
nonmediated
nonmediating
telemediated
unmediated
Related terms: intermediate
mean
median
mediation
mediator
medium