mean
Forms
- present (v1)
- mean
- past (v2)
- meant
- past participle (v3)
- meant
- present participle
- meaning
- 3rd person singular
- means
- Comparative
- meaner
- Superlative
- meanest
Definitions
1.To intend.
- Don't be angry; she meant well.
- I didn't mean to knock your tooth out.
- Man was not meant to question such things.
2.To have conviction in (something said or expressed); to be sincere in (what one says).
- Say what you mean and mean what you say.
- Does she really mean what she said to him last night?
3.To cause or produce (a given result); to bring about (a given result).
- One faltering step means certain death.
- This breakthrough will mean that we spend less on electricity bills.
- It was a goal that meant West Ham won on their first appearance at Wembley in 31 years, in doing so becoming the first team since Leicester in 1996 to bounce straight back to the Premier League through the play-offs.
4.To convey (a meaning).
- I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean.
- He’s a little different, if you know what I mean.
- The sky is red this morning, does that mean we're in for a storm?
1.Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby.
2.Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base.
- It was mean of you to steal that little girl's piggy bank.
- The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.
3.Of little value or worth; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable.
- The Roman legions and great Caesar found / Our fathers no mean foes.
4.Ungenerous; stingy; tight-fisted.
- He's so mean. I've never seen him spend so much as five pounds on presents for his children.
Frequency
Overall
Very common· #130
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Very common
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
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-.