mean
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: mēn
ipa: /miːn/
note: Local Dublin
ipa: /miːn/
note: Local Dublin
ipa: /mijən/
homophone: meen
homophone: mene
homophone: mien
homophone: mesne
rhymes: -iːn
Forms: form: myn
Etymology: From Middle English meene, borrowed from Old French meien (French moyen), Late Latin mediānus (“that is in the middle, middle”), from Latin medius (“middle”). Cognate with mid. For the musical sense, compare the cognate Italian mezzano. Doublet of median and mizzen.
Senses: examples: text: The mean family has 2.4 children.
text: In the mountain region of A-erh-t'ai Shan and Hsiang-t'ien Shan⁷, if the mean west wind velocity is five meters per second, the high tendency at 700mb on the anterior mountain slope may exceed 40 meters in 12 hours.
ref: 1960 April 7, “Communist China's Achievements in Numerical Weather Forecasting”, in 氣象學報, volume XXX, number 3, United States Joint Publications Research Service, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Apr 2022, page 4:
glosses: Having the mean (see noun below) as its value; average.
examples: text: I have declared in the causes what harm costiveness hath done in procuring this disease; if it be so noxious, the opposite must needs be good, or mean at least, as indeed it is […].
ref: , II.ii.2
text: being of middle age and a mean stature
ref: a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
english: The New Arcadia
translation: The New Arcadia
text: according to the fittest style of lofty, mean, or lowly
ref: [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: […] Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], →OCLC:
glosses: Middling; intermediate; moderately good, tolerable.
Synonyms: word: inconsiderate
word: insensitive
word: halfhearted
word: mean
word: mean-spirited
word: merciless
word: petty
word: pitiless
word: poor-spirited
word: ruthless
word: thoughtless
word: tight
word: surly
word: uncaring
word: unfriendly
word: ungrateful
word: unkind
word: unkindly
word: unthinking
Hyponyms: word: cruel
word: despicable
word: malevolent
word: malicious
word: unjust
Derived terms: sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: brake mean effective pressure
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: intermean
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: local mean sidereal time
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean absolute deviation
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean anomaly
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean distance
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean distance between failure
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean free path
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean free time
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean hitting time
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean motion
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean planet
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean proportional
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean sea level
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean sidereal time
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean solar day
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean solar time
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean square
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean standard
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean sun
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean survival time
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean time
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: meantime
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean time to failure
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: meantone
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: mean value theorem
sense: terms derived from mean (adjective)
word: meanwhile
Related terms: word: median
word: mediate
word: mediation
word: mediator
word: mediocre
word: mediocrity
word: medium
word: grim
word: harsh
word: humorless
word: stern