Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See mean, n., 7, 8, 9.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of mean.
  • noun countable An instrument or condition for attaining a purpose.
  • noun uncountable, plurale tantum Resources; riches.
  • verb Third-person singular simple present indicative form of mean.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an instrumentality for accomplishing some end
  • noun how a result is obtained or an end is achieved
  • noun considerable capital (wealth or income)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See mean.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word means.

Examples

  • In discussing the subject, we shall _consider the means used to propagate the gospel -- the opposition made against it -- and the wisdom of God in the choice of the means_; which will bring up to view some of the objections which have been made against the truth of the gospel.

    Sermons on Various Important Subjects Andrew Lee

  • -- That view also according to which a 'body' means no more than a _means_ of enjoyment is refuted hereby.

    The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja — Sacred Books of the East, Volume 48 George Thibaut 1881

  • No; Scripture has not undertaken to _tell_ us every thing, but merely to give us the means of _finding_ every thing; and thus much we can conclude on the subject before us, that if it is important, there are _means_ of determining it; but we cannot infer, either that it must actually be

    Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII (of 8) John Henry Newman 1845

  • If it be such a means, then its "efficacy" is established, in the only sense in which we are concerned to contend for it; while it is shown to be _no more inconsistent_ with the immutability of the Divine purposes, than any other system of _means or instruments_ that may be employed as subordinate agencies in the government of the world.

    Modern Atheism under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secularism, Development, and Natural Laws James Buchanan 1837

  • By these means the notion of my partiality took air, and whether Miss Thrale sent him word slily or not I cannot tell, but on the 25th January, 1783, Mr. Crutchley came hither to conjure me not to go to Italy; he had heard such things, he said, and by _means_ next to _miraculous_.

    Autobiography, Letters and Literary Remains of Mrs. Piozzi (Thrale) (2nd ed.) (2 vols.) Edited with notes and Introductory Account of her life and writings Hester Lynch Piozzi 1781

  • "We desire," say they in their letter to the resident, (written so late as March last,) "that you will inform us if any, and what means, have been taken for recovering the balance due from the Begum [Princess] at Fyzabad; and that, if necessary, you _recommend_ it to the vizier to enforce _the most effectual means_ for that purpose."

    The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 02 (of 12) Edmund Burke 1763

  • And this also means that they want assurance that 100\% collateral * means* 100\% collateral.

    Latest Articles 2009

  • But although it is by no means perfect, I think that my knowledge of these problems and of their imminent issues is sufficiently intimate to justify me in making a prophecy -- namely, that unless the native and other questions of South-Eastern Africa are treated with more honest intelligence, and on a more settled plan than it has hitherto been thought necessary to apply to them, the British taxpayer will find that he has _by no means_ heard the last of that country and its wars.

    Cetywayo and his White Neighbours Remarks on Recent Events in Zululand, Natal, and the Transvaal Henry Rider Haggard 1890

  • The true difficulty for them lies in making out how the reasons which justify self-defence in their view of it, do not also justify the acceptance of a duel: how, if I may make another man's death a means to the preservation of my vital right, I may not as well make another man's risk of death and my own, which is all that a duel amounts to, also a _means_, none other being at hand, to the preserving of my no less vital right.

    Moral Philosophy Joseph Rickaby 1888

  • It is a condition that is demoralizing in a hundred ways, and is fraught with peril to the republic, peril to society, and peril to all the interests of humanity; and therefore as I would assert, -- and _who would deny_ the supreme right and power of the people to protect the republic from any impending calamity by any just means, _but not by any unjust means_ -- I would claim that it is our right and duty to say that this grand hereditary inequality shall not be perpetual, and that

    The Arena Volume 4, No. 20, July, 1891 Various 1888

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.