mediated
Americanadjective
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(of disputes, strikes, etc.) settled or resolved with the help of an intermediary.
In the 15 years in which he has served as a mediator, he has settled over 90% of his mediated disputes.
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(of an agreement, truce, settlement, etc.) brought about with the help of an intermediary between parties.
A mediated divorce is much cheaper than negotiating through lawyers or going to court.
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indirectly experienced, effected, or conveyed; happening by means of or through someone or something else.
I see technology as any mediated form of communication, rather than face-to-face communication.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of mediated
Explanation
When you argue with your friend and your disagreement is mediated, that means a neutral person has stepped in to help the two of you negotiate or come to an agreement. Two kids fighting on a playground might need their dispute to be mediated by a calm grownup. Unfortunately, many of the fights that need to be mediated are between leaders of countries or feuding groups of fully grown adults. The Latin root of mediated is medius, or "middle," which makes a lot of sense when you imagine a referee standing in the middle of two angry soccer teams.
Vocabulary lists containing mediated
medi, List 2
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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.
During the fourth decade of warming, they observed that stable portions of soil organic matter, once believed to resist warming mediated decomposition, also began to break down.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
Recognizing that the more our lives are mediated with digital tools the harder it becomes to live without them has catalyzed less explicitly political pushes for offline attention as well.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
They also figure that most voters won’t notice since they will occur on transactions mediated by business.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country mediated the talks, told lawmakers: "Today, the world has seen a historic step towards peace. After the darkness of war, the sun of peace has risen."
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
Our eating habits are mediated by a mind-boggling collection of such items, from spoons and glasses to genetic engineering labs and gigantic ocean-going ships.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
