mean

I verb

1)

flashing lights mean the road is blocked

Syn:

signify, convey, denote, designate, indicate, connote, show, express, spell out; stand for, represent, symbolize; imply, suggest, intimate, hint at, insinuate, drive at, refer to, allude to, point to; literary betoken

2)

she didn't mean to break it

Syn:

intend, aim, plan, design, have in mind, contemplate, purpose, propose, set out, aspire, desire, want, wish, expect

See note at intend

3)

he was hit by a bullet meant for a soldier

Syn:

intend, design; destine, predestine

4)

the closures will mean a rise in unemployment

Syn:

entail, involve, necessitate, lead to, result in, give rise to, bring about, cause, engender, produce

5)

this means a lot to me

Syn:

matter, be important, be significant

6)

a red sky in the morning usually means rain

Syn:

presage, portend, foretell, augur, promise, foreshadow, herald, signal, bode; literary betoken

II adjective

1)

a mean trick

Syn:

unkind, nasty, unpleasant, spiteful, malicious, unfair, cruel, shabby, foul, despicable, contemptible, obnoxious, vile, odious, loathsome, base, low; informal horrible, horrid, hateful, rotten, lowdown; beastly

Ant:

kind

2)

he's too mean to leave a tip

Syn:

miserly, niggardly, close-fisted, parsimonious, penny-pinching, cheeseparing, Scroogelike; informal tightfisted, stingy, tight, mingy, money-grubbing, cheap; formal penurious

Ant:

generous, munificent

3)

the truth was obvious to even the meanest intelligence

Syn:

inferior, poor, limited, restricted

4)

their mean origins

Syn:

lowly, humble, ordinary, low, low-born, modest, common, base, proletarian, plebeian, obscure, ignoble, undistinguished; archaic baseborn

Ant:

noble

5) informal

he's a mean cook

See excellent

III 1. noun

a mean between frugality and miserliness

Syn:

middle course, middle way, midpoint, happy medium, golden mean, compromise, balance; median, norm, average

2. adjective

the mean temperature

Syn:

average, median, middle, medial, medium, normal, standard