Word.ws English Dictionary

mean well

mean well verb: to have good intentions; to do with a noble or positive purpose in mind.

Verb

mean well (third-person singular simple present means well, present participle meaning well, simple past and past participle meant well)

  1. To have good intentions; to do with a noble or positive purpose in mind.
    • These programs mean well, but they're just counterproductive.
    Antonyms:
    mean ill

Antonyms of mean well

  • mean ill

Forms of mean well

third-person singular presentmeans well
present participlemeaning well
past participlemeant well
pastmeant well

Questions about mean well

What does mean well mean?
Mean well means to have good intentions; to do with a noble or positive purpose in mind.
What part of speech is mean well?
Mean well is a verb.
What is the past tense of mean well?
The past tense of mean well is meant well.

Words near mean well in the dictionary

  1. mean times
  2. mean to
  3. mean to say
  4. mean value theorem
  5. mean value theorems
  6. mean well
  7. mean white
  8. mean whites
  9. mean world syndrome
  10. mean'st
  11. mean-mouth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mean well (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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