| 单词 | mean |
| 释义 | mean I. 1. now dialect Britain 2. 3. < a man of mean intelligence > 4. < the meaner quarters of the town > < living in mean circumstances > 5. < a mean motive > 6. < mean hospitality > 7. a. < a mean surly man > b. < a mean soil to work > < a mean place to drive a car in > c. slang < pitches a mean curve > < dances a mean tango > 8. a. < his ready cooperation made me feel mean for what I had said > b. < felt thoroughly mean with a cold > II. < acted mean to us > < a narrow mean-thinking busybody > III. transitive verb 1. < houses are meant for use > < means to make it difficult for you > < meant to come home early > 2. < what do you mean by such conduct > < these words mean nothing to me > 3. < health means everything > < a happy home means much to a child > < music means little to me > < success without recognition means nothing to him > < her happiness meant the world to him > 4. < his criticism is meant for all of us > < do you mean this for me > intransitive verb 1. < meant well but seldom carried anything to a conclusion > 2. obsolete 3. obsolete Synonyms: < to understand what foreign words mean > < what a person's actions mean > < disunion, incoherence and inconsistency mean failure in design — C.W.H.Johnson > < to understand what an obligation means > < the term “beauty” can mean many things > denote can contrast with signify in having as its subject something that serves as an outward sign or visible indication; in application to a term it implies the limited and defined designation of a term disentangled from connotation or unessential association < slumped into a chair near the doorway, his posture denoting complete exhaustion — L.C.Douglas > < that curious love of green, which … in nations is said to denote a laxity, if not a decadence of morals — Oscar Wilde > < the best way to show what a term denotes is to point at the object it stands for > signify can contrast with denote in having as its subject something of a symbolic or representative character; it can also carry a stronger implication of the importance of the conveyed meaning; in application to a term it stresses the symbolic relationship between term and idea < he had hopes that her demure and reticent deportment signified that the effervescence of youth had evaporated — Robert Grant †1940 > < the third figure, with a background of plow handles and mining tools, signifies agriculture and mining — American Guide Series: Michigan > < the loss of his wife signified more than he could ever put into words > < the term “bread and butter” signifies the material necessities of life > import can carry the idea of offering for comprehension or intellectual grasp, often, however, being virtually interchangeable with signify; in application to a term it can stress the implications involved in the term's interpretation as distinct from its denotation < the radical ideas imported little to conservative readers except the idea of outrageous thinking > < though a term's denotation may be matter of fact, in its connotations the term may import revolution > Synonym: see in addition intend. • - mean business IV. transitive verb 1. now chiefly Scotland 2. now chiefly Scotland 3. now chiefly Scotland intransitive verb chiefly Scotland V. now chiefly Scotland VI. 1. a. < so do I wish the crown, being so far off and so I chide the means that keep me from it — Shakespeare > b. or meane (1) (2) (3) < great mean > c. (1) < the moral mean is no mathematical mean between extremes, but is, in any given case, relative to persons and places — Lucius Garvin > (2) Confucianism (3) Buddhism d. (1) (2) (3) 2. a. < secure peace by honorable means > < the justification of barbarous means by holy ends — H.J.Muller > < means … for keeping the prices of building materials high — T.W.Arnold > < a continuous belt is a means of power transmission from one shaft to another > b. obsolete c. obsolete 3. means plural < a man of means > broadly 4. obsolete Synonyms: < the habit of regarding the laboring class as a mere means to the maintenance of the rest — G.L.Dickinson > < the principal means of transportation was … Afghan camels — Herbert Hoover > < language as a means of social control — J.B.Carroll > < faith in science as a means … to knowledge and grace — F.B.Millett > instrument may suggest a certain ready applicability to the matter under consideration rather than only the bare fact of use, and with reference to people susceptibility to use or willingness to be used < tariffs and immigration restriction are chief instruments of this economic nationalism — J.A.Hobson > < the American public school as an instrument for strengthening the spirit of national unity — J.B.Conant > < extremes of corruption were reached — and here again the eunuchs were sinister and convenient instruments — Owen and Eleanor Lattimore > agent in reference to natural phenomena may designate an inner capability and suggest only incidentally, if that, its being used; in reference to matters personal and social it stresses being directed by another in his interest but lacks other suggestion or value notion < the bee makes honey, the spider secretes a filament; you can hardly say that any of these agents believes — T.S.Eliot > < her great lords, spiritual and temporal … the agents of her will — Henry Adams > < an unconscious agent in the hands of Providence when you recalled me — Willa Cather > instrumentality may suggest the fact of serving as an instrument but in today's English it is likely to suggest a means or agency which is a minor part of a larger entity or under the control of a subsuming organization < in the American colonies, the newspapers were a major instrumentality throughout the entire struggle for independence — F.L.Mott > < governments or subdivisions or instrumentalities thereof — U.S. Code > organ suggests a functioning part of a larger especially organic whole, or more specif., a means of communication, especially a controlled or proprietary one < the Council of State was a small body that met with the king three times a week, and it was the pivotal organ of government — Stringfellow Barr > < the Journal is the organ of the American Medical Association > medium indicates an intermediate means, especially a means of conveyance or communication, in connection with the latter a favored or accustomed means < he had now in the periodical a medium for his delicate poetic talent — S.T.Williams > < each medium says something that cannot be uttered as well or as completely in any other tongue — John Dewey > vehicle likewise indicates a means of conveying or communicating; it may be more specific and tangible than medium < Roosevelt's speeches were … the vehicle by which he set in motion tremendous social and moral forces — H.L.Hopkins > channel suggests a course or path of transmission or communication more forcefully than a means < a petition was drafted, signed by sixty-seven scientists, and sent through proper channels to the President of the United States — Harrison Brown > Synonym: see in addition average. • - by all means - by any means - by means of - by no means VII. 1. a. obsolete b. < the mean term of a syllogism > c. d. < pursue a mean course in politics > 2. a. < of a mean stature > b. 3. 4. < the mean high tide is 8 feet > VIII. 1. obsolete 2. obsolete 3. obsolete IX. obsolete |
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