means

See also:Means

English

Etymology

Seemean(“method or course of action used to achieve some result”).

Pronunciation

• (UK)IPA^(key):/miːnz/
• (US)IPA^(key):/minz/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-iːnz

Noun

means

1. pluralofmean

Noun

means(pluralmeans)

1. An instrument or condition for attaining a purpose.

   She treated him as ameansto an end.

   A car is ameansof transport.

   • 1622,Francis Bacon,History of the reign of King Henry VII:

     And by thismeansalso he had them the more at vantage, being tired and harassed with a long march; and more at mercy, being cut off far from their country, and therefore not able by any sudden flight to get to retreat, and to renew their troubles.

   • 1623,William Shakespeare,Timon of Athens,act V, scene 1:

     Our hope in him is dead: let us return,
     And strain what othermeansis left unto us
     In our dear peril.

   • 2013June 7,Ed Pilkington,“‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”,inThe Guardian Weekly,volume188,number26,page 6:

     In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as ameansof carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.

Noun

meanspl(plural only)

1. (uncountable)Resources;riches.

   a person ofmeans;independentmeans

   He was living beyond hismeans.

   • 1676,Richard Baxter,A Treatise of Justifying Righteousness,page163:

     Where there is muchmeansto be used, and conditions yet to be performed, for the continuation and Consummation of our Justification, there it is not yet continued or consummate.

   • 1888,Karl Marx,edited byFriedrich Engels,The Communist Manifesto,page 5:

     Because there is too much civilisation, too muchmeansof subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce

   • 1921,United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary,Authorizing association of producers of agricultural products,page99:

     Then the other 12 packers[…]were men without muchmeans,who lived in Fresno

   • 1955,Rex Stout,“Die Like a Dog”, inThree Witnesses,Bantam Books,published 1994 October,→ISBN,page154:

     Some kind of writer. He didn't have to make a living; he hadmeans.

Usage notes

Frequently contrasted withend(“goal”),as in “ameans to an end”.Similar contrast isprocessvs.product.

Synonyms

• wherewithal

Derived terms

• by all means
• by any means
• by fair means or foul
• by means of
• by no manner of means
• by no means
• independent means
• k-means clustering
• live beyond one's means
• man of means,woman of means
• means of exchange
• means of grace
• means of labor
• means of production,production means
• means of transport,means of transportation
• means test
• means to an end
• not by any manner of means
• not by any means
• of means
• private means
• production means
• the end justifies the means,the ends justify the means
• ways and means
• within one's means

Translations

instrument or condition for attaining a purpose

• Afrikaans:middel(af)
• Armenian:հնար(hy)(hnar)
• Belarusian:спо́сабm(spósab),сро́дакm(sródak)
• Bengali:আওকাত(bn)(aōkat)
• Bulgarian:спо́соб(bg)m(spósob),сре́дство(bg)n(srédstvo)
• Catalan:mitjà(ca)m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Phương pháp(zh)(fāngfǎ)

• Danish:middel(da)n
• Dutch:middel(nl)n
• Esperanto:rimedo(eo)
• Finnish:väline(fi)
• Galician:medio(gl)m
• Georgian:საშუალება(sašualeba),ხერხი(xerxi)
• German:Mittel(de)n
• Greek:μέσο(el)n(méso),δυνατότητες(el)fpl(dynatótites)
• Hebrew:אֶמְצָעִי(he)m(emtzai)
• Hindi:साधन(hi)m(sādhan),संसाधन(hi)m(sansādhan)
• Italian:mezzo(it)
• Japanese:Thủ đoạn(ja)(しゅだん, shudan),Phương pháp(ja)(ほうほう, hōhō)
• Khmer:មធ្យោបាយ(km)(matyoubaay)
• Korean:방법(ko)(bangbeop),수단(ko)(sudan)
• Latvian:līdzeklism
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:middel(no)n

  Nynorsk:middeln

• Polish:medium(pl)n,środkimpl
• Portuguese:meio(pt)
• Russian:спо́соб(ru)n(spósob),сре́дство(ru)n(srédstvo)
• Spanish:medio(es)m
• Swedish:medel(sv)n
• Ukrainian:спо́сіб(uk)m(spósib),за́сіб(uk)m(zásib)

resources

• Bulgarian:бога́тство(bg)n(bogátstvo),състоя́ние(bg)n(sǎstojánie),сре́дства(bg)npl(srédstva)
• Czech:prostředky(cs)mpl
• Dutch:middelen(nl)npl
• Esperanto:rimedoj(eo)pl
• Finnish:varat(fi)pl,varallisuus(fi)
• French:moyens(fr)mpl
• German:Mittel(de)n
• Hindi:संसाधन(hi)m(sansādhan)
• Irish:gustalm
• Latvian:līdzekļimpl
• Romanian:mijloacenpl
• Russian:бога́тство(ru)n(bogátstvo),состоя́ние(ru)n(sostojánije),сре́дства(ru)npl(srédstva)
• Spanish:medios(es)mpl
• Telugu:మూలాధారాలు(mūlādhārālu)
• Turkish:kaynak(tr)
• Ukrainian:бага́тство(uk)n(bahátstvo)
• Zulu:icebo(zu)class5/6,isuclass5/6

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian:^{(pleaseverify)}alat(id),^{(pleaseverify)}peralatan(id)

Verb

means

1. third-personsingularsimplepresentindicativeofmean

Anagrams

• namés,names,Seman,amens,manes,neams,ñames,Mensa,mesna,mensa,Manes,manse

Latin

Etymology

Present active participle ofmeō(“go along, traverse”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin)IPA^(key):/ˈme.ans/,[ˈmeä̃ːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical)IPA^(key):/ˈme.ans/,[ˈmɛːäns]

Participle

meāns(genitivemeantis);third-declensionone-termination participle

1. goingalong,passing,traversing

Declension

Third-declensionparticiple.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	meāns			meantēs	meantia
genitive	meantis			meantium
dative	meantī			meantibus
accusative	meantem	meāns		meantēs meantīs	meantia
ablative	meante meantī1			meantibus
vocative	meāns			meantēs	meantia

¹When used purely as an adjective.