mean

Less common meanings

12. 12
    nouncountable

    In mathematics, an average of a set of values, especially their sum divided by how many there are.

    One huge value can drag the mean far from the typical case.

    The two groups had different means.

    UsageIn statistics mean is the precise word; average is the everyday one.

    Similaraverage

    Note

    The arithmetic mean, to give it its full name: add the values, then divide by how many there are. When the distinction matters, say arithmetic mean, because the wider family of means includes geometric and harmonic means, which can give different results from the same data. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The arithmetic mean is calculated by adding the values and dividing by their number. people.duke.edu
    • Geometric and harmonic means are other types of mean. en.wikipedia.org
13. 13
    stingyadjectiveUK

    Ungenerous, stingy or tight-fisted.

    He's famously mean with money and always slips away just before it's his turn to buy a round.

    She was too mean to tip.

    UsageSay mean with money to make clear you mean stingy, not unkind.

    Similarstingy, miserly, tight-fisted, cheap, ungenerous

    Oppositegenerous, liberal, open-handed

    Note

    Money is the issue here. Chiefly British usage hears stingy: someone who will not spend five pounds on his children's presents. Elsewhere the word more readily suggests deliberate unkindness, so a mean landlord can sound tight-fisted to one reader and spiteful to another.

14. 14
    very skilledadjectivecolloquial

    Excellent, impressively skillful or formidably strong.

    She plays a mean game of chess.

    He mixes a mean cocktail.

    UsageUsually before a noun: plays a mean game, makes a mean chili, has a mean right hook.

    Similarexcellent, great, terrific, superb

    Note

    Praise disguised as menace, and nearly always before a noun: a mean backhand, a mean cigarette, a mean Caesar salad. With food it can also suggest something hearty or spicy: a mean chili may be skillfully made, fiery, or both.

15. 15
    shabbyadjective

    Poor, inferior or of little worth or importance; shabby.

    The inn was mean and dirty.

    They rented a mean little room with one small window.

    Similarshabby, squalid, poor, wretched, seedy

    Oppositegrand, splendid

16. 16
    be sincereverbtransitive

    To have conviction in what is said, or be sincere in it.

    I mean it, I'm leaving.

    He meant every word of the apology.

    UsageCommon in mean it: I mean it, did she mean it?

    Note

    Sincerity is the point here. The proverb say what you mean and mean what you say shows it by setting two senses side by side: the first is what a speaker intends to convey, and the second is standing behind it. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • “Say what you mean and mean what you say” is an established proverb with the quoted wording. files.wmich.edu
17. 17
    trickyadjectivecolloquialchildish

    Difficult or tricky, often in children's speech.

    The last level of the game is really mean.

    Teachers set mean questions on purpose.

    Similartricky, difficult, hard, tough, fiendish

    Oppositeeasy, simple

18. 18
    low-mindedadjective

    Lacking dignity of mind and honor; low-minded, spiritless or base.

    Hiding behind his assistant to avoid the blame was a mean, cowardly act.

    He felt ashamed of the mean, selfish thoughts that crept in when his brother got the promotion.

    Similarbase, ignoble, vile, selfish

    Oppositenoble, honorable, lofty

19. 19
    middle waynouncountable

    Something intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range, or a medium.

    The golden mean is the virtue between two vices.

    She tried to find a happy mean between working too hard and not working at all.

    UsageOften a mean between two things; also the golden mean, a happy mean.

    Similarmiddle, midpoint, medium, compromise

    Oppositeextreme

    Note

    Latin medius, "middle", is the root, and philosophy gave this sense its weight. In translations of Plato, a constitution is "a kind of mean" between aristocracy and oligarchy. In Aristotle, a mean "implies certain extremes" on either side. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • This sense of mean ultimately derives from Latin medius, meaning middle, through Late Latin and Old French. en.wiktionary.org
    • Translations of Plato's Republic describe a constitution as a kind of mean between aristocracy and oligarchy; Socrates speaks the line. mgimo.ru
    • Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics contains the quoted wording in Harris Rackham's translation. beta.perseus.tufts.edu
20. 20
    middle term (ratio)nouncountable

    In mathematics, either of the two middle numbers of a proportion written in the usual way.

    In the proportion 2:5 = 4:10, the numbers 5 and 4 are the means, while 2 and 10 are the extremes.

    To find an unknown mean, multiply the extremes and divide by the known mean.

    Oppositeextreme

    Note

    Proportions have their own vocabulary: in 1:2 = 3:6, the inner terms are the means and the outer ones the extremes. The means-extremes property states that their products are equal (2 × 3 and 1 × 6 both give 6), and it is the rule behind cross-multiplication. The term almost always appears in the plural, means, set against extremes. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The inner terms of 1:2 = 3:6 are the means; the outer terms are the extremes. math.libretexts.org
    • The product of the means equals the product of the extremes; substituting the example gives 2 × 3 = 1 × 6 = 6. math.libretexts.org
    • This equality underlies cross-multiplication. math.libretexts.org
21. 21
    adjectivearchaic

    Low or common in birth, rank, or quality; lowly.

    Why lies He in such mean estate, Where ox and ass are feeding?

    1865, “What Child Is This?”, William Chatterton Dix (lyrics)

    Thinke you I weigh this treaſure more than you? Not all the Gold in Indias welthy armes, Shall buy the meaneſt ſouldier in my traine.

    c. 1587, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part

    Note

    An old social sense that ranks people and places by station rather than character. It descends from Old English ġemǣne, "common, public", and mean is in fact a doublet of common. It survives mainly in set phrases like mean birth or mean parentage, and in older writing such as Marlowe's "the meanest soldier in my train". Modern readers tend to hear the unkind sense instead, so reserve it for deliberately historical prose. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The historical sense concerns low origin or station and can describe people or dwellings. en.wiktionary.org
    • This sense descends from Old English ġemǣne, meaning common or public. en.wiktionary.org
    • Mean and common are etymological doublets. en.wiktionary.org
    • The quoted wording occurs in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1, spoken by Tamburlaine. gutenberg.org
22. 22
    adjectiveobsolete

    Middling or intermediate; moderately good or tolerable.

    being of middle age and a mean stature

    a. 1587, Philip Sidney, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia]

    according to the fittest style of lofty, mean, or lowly

    [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib

    Note

    This sense comes from a different word altogether: Latin medius, "middle", by way of Old French. Milton ranks styles as "lofty, mean, or lowly", and Sidney describes "a mean stature". In both, mean is the middle term, not the bottom one. That is the trap for modern readers, who expect the "shabby" meaning. The idea of the middle lives on in the statistical average. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • The intermediate sense has a separate origin from the shabby sense: ultimately Latin medius, through Late Latin medianus and Old French meien. en.wiktionary.org
    • Milton uses the quoted classification of styles in Of Education. en.wikisource.org
    • Sidney’s Arcadia contains the phrase “a mean stature”; the character speaking is Philoclea. gutenberg.org
    • The quotations illustrate mean in the sense of intermediate or middling. en.wiktionary.org
    • The statistical sense retains the idea of a representative central value. en.wikipedia.org
23. 23
    noun

    In early music, the middle part of three-part polyphony, specifically the alto part, or an alto instrument.

    Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane, and Treble.

    1624, John Smith, Generall Historie
24. 24
    verbdialectalIrelandUK

    To lament; to grieve aloud or complain of a loss.

    They were forced to mean our estate to the Queen of England.

    1560, Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scot. iii. (1677)