Word.ws English Dictionary

mediate

US/ˈmidieɪt/

mediate verb: to resolve differences, or to bring about a settlement, between conflicting parties.

Verb

mediate (third-person singular simple present mediates, present participle mediating, simple past and past participle mediated)

  1. (transitive) To resolve differences, or to bring about a settlement, between conflicting parties.
    • Negotiators managed to mediate a ceasefire.
  2. (intransitive) To intervene between conflicting parties in order to resolve differences or bring about a settlement.
    • "Nay," replied Charles, gravely, "this is carrying your anger too far. Allow me to mediate between you. I must entreat, nay, I command, the Lady Francesca's presence."1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XLII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 352
  3. To divide into two equal parts.
    • Then, Meaſuring Land, by vvalking over it, they ſtyled a Double-ſtep (i.e. the Space from the elevation of one Foot, to the ſame Foot ſet dovvn again, mediated by a ſtep of the other Foot) a Pace, equal to 5 Foot; a Thouſand of vvhich Paces made a Mile, vvhich is a Meaſure ſerving for any diſtance...1694, William Holder, “Of Measure in General. § More Particularly of Time; and Difficulties Concerning It.”, in A Discourse Concerning Time, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall, for L[uke] Meredith...
  4. To act as an intermediary causal or communicative agent; to convey.
    • He had some advantage in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was longer than mine, […] His obvious malignity of purpose never for a moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and strategem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he...1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst...
    • [A]s much as language in our modern technological world is mediated through the written word, quantitatively spoken language still reigns supreme.2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 8
  5. To act as a spiritualistic medium.
  6. To communicate via media; to frame; to provide a cultural narrative about.

Adjective

mediate

  1. Acting through a mediating agency, indirect.
    • The Leibnitzio-Wolfians distinguish three acts in the process of representative cognition: — 1° the act of representing a (mediate) object to the mind; 2° the representation, or, to speak more properly, representamen, itself as an (immediate or vicarious) object exhibited to the mind; 3° the act by...1861, Sir William Hamilton, The Metaphysics of Sir William Hamilton, page 318
    • Vygotsky saw the development of language and mental powers as neither learned, in the ordinary way, nor emerging epigenetically, but as being social and mediate in nature, as arising from the interaction of adult and child, and as internalizing the cultural instrument of language for the processes...1989, Oliver Sacks, Seeing Voices: A Journey Into the World of the Deaf
  2. Intermediate between extremes.
    • soon the mediate clouds shall be dispell'd1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “Charity”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC
  3. Gained or effected by a medium or condition.
    • mediate positive proof1605, Francis Bacon, “(please specify |book=1 or 2)”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas...
    • The attempt of members of a society to observe and preserve mediate phases of acts in recurrent situations brings about the perpetuation of a mediate field in their society, in which a complex series of abstracted implements are prepared or premediated in advance of future acts.2019, W. Kang, G. H. Mead’s Concept of Rationality, page 86

mediate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

mediate in Hindi

मध्यस्थता करना

mediate in Tamil

சந்து செய், நடுவு செய், செயலூக்கி, செயல்துணை ஊக்கி

mediate in Marathi

मध्यस्थी करणे, मध्यस्थी करण्यासाठी, मध्यस्थी करायला

mediate in Urdu

عارض, بیچ, حائل, بیچ بچاؤ کرنا, پڑنا, ثالثی کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
mediate in Bengali
মধ্যস্থতা করা, আপস করা, সালিশ করা
mediate in Telugu
మధ్యవర్తిత్వం చేయడానికి, మధ్యవర్తిత్వం వహించడానికి
mediate in Malayalam
മദ്ധ്യസ്ഥതവഹിക്കുക, ഭിന്നതയില്ലാതാക്കുക, ഇടനിലക്കാരനായി പ്രവർത്തിക്കുക
mediate in Kannada
ಹೊಂದಾಣಿಕೆ ಮಾಡಿಸು, ಹೊಂದಿಸು
mediate in Punjabi
ਵਿਚੋਲਗੀ ਕਰਨਾ, ਵਿਚੋਲਗੀ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
mediate in Gujarati
મધ્યસ્થી કરવી, મધ્યસ્થતા કરવી
mediate in Odia
ମଧ୍ଯ଼ସ୍ଥତା କରିବା, ମଧ୍ଯ଼ସ୍ଥତା କରିବାକୁ
mediate in Nepali
मध्यस्थता गर्ने, मध्यस्थता गर्न

Examples of mediate in a sentence

  • Binational peace talks broke down, so a third nation stepped in to mediate.
  • The government is supposed to mediate between ratepayers and the power company.
  • These were women with enormous feelings and, almost always, no filter to mediate their expression of them.

All 40 example sentences with mediate

Forms of mediate

third-person singular presentmediates
present participlemediating
past participlemediated
pastmediated

Past tense of mediate: mediated

Origin of mediate

The adjective is first attested in the 1440s in Middle English, the verb in 1538; from Middle English mediat(e) (“intermediate; intercessory”), borrowed from Late Latin mediātus, perfect passive participle of mediō (“to divide in the middle; (in Medieval Latin) to be in the middle, be or become between, mediate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from medius (“middle”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Words formed from mediate

Questions about mediate

What does mediate mean?
Mediate means to resolve differences, or to bring about a settlement, between conflicting parties.
What is mediate in Hindi?
Mediate in Hindi is मध्यस्थता करना. See Mediate meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is mediate?
Mediate can be a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce mediate?
Mediate is pronounced /ˈmidieɪt/ (US).
What is the past tense of mediate?
The past tense of mediate is mediated.

Words near mediate in the dictionary

  1. mediastinotomies
  2. mediastinotomy
  3. mediastinum
  4. mediatability
  5. mediatable
  6. mediate
  7. mediated
  8. mediated stylistics
  9. mediately
  10. mediateness
  11. mediates

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mediate (page history and authors); mediate (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mediate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mediate (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mediate (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mediate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mediate (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mediate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mediate (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mediate (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mediate (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mediate (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); mediate (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Cite this entry: “mediate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mediate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.