mean
2[meen]
adjective, mean·er, mean·est.
Origin of mean
2Synonym study
2. Mean, low, base, sordid, and vile all refer to ignoble characteristics worthy of dislike, contempt, or disgust. Mean suggests pettiness and small-mindedness: to take a mean advantage. Low suggests coarseness and vulgarity: low company. Base suggests selfish cowardice or moral depravity: base motives. Sordid suggests a wretched uncleanness, or sometimes an avariciousness without dignity or moral scruples: a sordid slum; sordid gain. Vile suggests disgusting foulness or repulsiveness: vile insinuation; a vile creature. 3. See stingy1.
mean
3[meen]
noun
adjective
Origin of mean
3Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Related Words for meanest
selfish, greedy, hard, vile, dangerous, malicious, callous, vicious, evil, ugly, dirty, nasty, rough, miserable, vulgar, petty, humble, close, penny-pinching, mercenaryExamples from the Web for meanest
Contemporary Examples of meanest
Historical Examples of meanest
The road to it led through one of the meanest portions of the city.
Ester Ried Yet SpeakingIsabella Alden
He's got a drunken father,—one of the meanest kind of drunkards.
Ester Ried Yet SpeakingIsabella Alden
That it can be done will be obvious to the meanest comprehension.
We can do all we wish while we live; afterwards we are less than the meanest.
The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, CompleteDuc de Saint-Simon
You are solicitous of the good-will of the meanest person, uneasy at his ill-will.
Essays, First SeriesRalph Waldo Emerson
mean
1verb means, meaning or meant (mainly tr)
Word Origin for mean
Old English mænan; compare Old Saxon mēnian to intend, Dutch meenen
usage
In standard English, mean should not be followed by for when expressing intention: I didn't mean this to happen (not I didn't mean for this to happen)
mean
2adjective
Word Origin for mean
C12: from Old English gemǣne common; related to Old High German gimeini, Latin communis common, at first with no pejorative sense
mean
3noun
adjective
See also means
Word Origin for mean
C14: via Anglo-Norman from Old French moien, from Late Latin mediānus median
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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mean
mean
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
mean
[mēn]
n.
adj.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
mean
[mēn]
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
mean
mean
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
mean
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.