means
UK/miːnz//minz/
means is the plural of mean.
means is the third-person singular simple present indicative of mean.
Meaning of mean
Noun
mean (plural means)
- A method or course of action used to achieve some result.
- To say truth, it is a meane full of uncertainty and danger.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 5, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
- An intermediate step or intermediate steps.
- Verily in this treatise this hath been mine only purpose; and the mean to bring the same to effect hath been such as whereby I studied to profit wholesomely, not to please delicately.a. 1563, Thomas Harding, "To the Reader", in The Works of John Jewel (1845 ed.)
- Something which is intermediate or in the middle; an intermediate value or range of values; a medium.
- Then will not this constitution be a kind of mean between aristocracy and oligarchy?1997, John Llewelyn Davies with David J. Vaughan, Republic, translation of original by Plato, page 263
- The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument.
- Of these [rattles] they have Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane, and Treble.1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, Kupperman, published 1988, page 147
- Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency.
- Note that (1.41) is simply the probability-weighted mean without any explicit allowance for the stratification; each observation is weighted by its inflation factor and the total divided by the total of the inflation factors for the survey.1997, Angus Deaton, The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconometric Approach to Development Policy, World Bank Publications, page 51
- The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms.
- While the average age of the rioter was 27.8 years, the mean age of the nonrioter was 38.1.1980 June 22, Richard Morin, “Profile of a Rioter: Under 30, Male, Frustrated”, in The Washington Post, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2017
Noun (1)
means (plural means)
- An instrument or condition to achieve a result.
- She treated him as a means to an end.
- A car is a means of transport.
- Synonyms:
- wherewithal
Noun (2)
means pl (plural only)
- Financial resources; wealth.
- a person of means; independent means
- He was living beyond his means.
- Substantial wealth.
- She is a woman of means.
- Hotels that are so priced that only people of means can stay.
Proper noun capitalized: Means
Means (countable and uncountable, plural Meanses)
Synonyms of means
Forms of means
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | means |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Meanses |
Origin of means
From mean (“method or course of action used to achieve some result”). Compare French moyens, German Mittel.
Various origins: * Reduced form of McMeans, a surname of Irish origin. * Habitational surname from the villages of East and West Meon, in Hampshire. * A nickname from Middle English mene (“inferior in rank”), which is from Old English ġemǣne (“common, general”), or Middle English mene (“moderate in behaviour”), which is from Old French mëen, mean.
Words formed from means
- by all means
- by any means
- by fair means or foul
- by means of
- by no manner of means
- by no means
- economy of means
- k-means clustering
- means of egress
- means of exchange
- means of grace
- means of labor
- means of labour
- means of production
- means of survival
- means of transport
- means of transportation
- means test
- means to an end
- not by any means
- of modest means
- production means
- the end justifies the means
- the ends justify the means
- within one's means
- not by any manner of means
- of means
- independent means
- live beyond one's means
- man of means
- woman of means
- private means
- ways and means
Phrases with means
- means to
- means well
- grand means
- Means grass
- means tests
- no means no
- golden means
- means tested
- means to say
- men of means
- sample means
- means testing
23 more phrasesFewer phrases
- means to ends
- absolute means
- harmonic means
- means business
- this means war
- weighted means
- women of means
- geometric means
- quadratic means
- y'all means all
- arithmetic means
- population means
- like one means it
- means proportional
- means the world to
- means everything to
- contraharmonic means
- lived beyond one's means
- lives beyond one's means
- means the whole world to
- living beyond one's means
- sore boob means more boob
- arithmetic-geometric means
Words that rhyme with means
- beans
- greens
- teens
- leans
- -enes
- by no means
- campfire beans
- cool beans
- figurines
- gleans
- intervenes
- jeans
13 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about means
- What does means mean?
- Means means an instrument or condition to achieve a result.
- What is means the plural of?
- Means is the plural of mean.
- What part of speech is means?
- Means can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce means?
- Means is pronounced /miːnz/ (UK).
- What is the plural of means?
- The plural of means is means.
Words near means in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: means (page history and authors); Means (page history and authors); mean (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-means.ogg.
Cite this entry: “means.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/means. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.