mediator
Americannoun
Usage
What does mediator mean? A mediator is a person who mediates—helps to settle a dispute or create agreement when there is conflict between two or more people or groups by acting as an intermediary or go-between for those parties.The act or process of mediating is called mediation. Mediation always involves a mediator acting as an impartial third party to guide the communication between the conflicting parties.Sometimes, mediation happens in an informal way. You might act as a mediator for two friends by mediating their argument. But the word is perhaps most commonly used in more specific ways in formal situations, such as when a mediator mediates a labor dispute between a company and its striking employees or when a mediator mediates a divorce for two spouses.When mediation occurs in an official or legal context, such as when it has been ordered by a judge, it is often called arbitration and is performed by an arbitrator. Arbitration usually involves a decision that the parties are bound by. Mediation is typically less formal and usually involves suggestions for settling differences, as opposed to binding decisions.Example: I know you two have your differences, so I’d like to act as a mediator while you talk it out and try to come to an understanding.
Other Word Forms
- mediatorship noun
- undermediator noun
Etymology
Origin of mediator
First recorded in 1250–1300; from Anglo-French mediatur, Old French mediatour, from Latin mediātor “go-between, intermediary”; mediate, -tor
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Still, the leader of the host nation, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has tried to position herself as a mediator between the U.S. and Europe, staunchly defending the fraying trans-Atlantic alliance.
During his separation from Gates’s private office, Nikolic said that “Epstein inserted himself as a mediator and then used lies to pursue his own agenda.”
Uncertainty over the location and scope had threatened to derail the talks, which are part of a diplomatic effort by regional mediators to de-escalate tensions.
From BBC
The mediators’ main goal for Friday’s talks is to arrive at a general announcement by both sides saying they are committed to diplomacy and have agreed to de-escalate tensions and cease hostilities, the officials said.
As Sam Dalrymple writes in “Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia,” the fact that Radcliffe “knew nothing of India was considered evidence of his potential as an unbiased mediator.”
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
