by means of

Idioms

Through the use of, owing to, as in We plan to pay for medical school by means of a second mortgage, or He'll succeed by means of sheer persistence. [Early 1400s] Also see by dint of.

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.

The obscure law bans a person from soliciting or receiving nonpublic information from a public servant by means of their office or employment with the intent to obtain a benefit.

From Slate • Mar. 26, 2026

This is the first time squads in the Hundred have been assembled by means of an auction.

From BBC • Mar. 11, 2026

Viollet-le-Duc did not study at the state-run École des Beaux Arts, but came to architecture by means of drawing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 18, 2026

“We define slop as ‘digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence,’” they wrote.

From Salon • Jan. 13, 2026

He had remembered that one of the crystal merchant’s suppliers transported his crystal by means of caravans that crossed the desert.

From "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023