mete
1 Americanverb
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of mete1
before 900; Middle English; Old English metan; cognate with Dutch meten, Old Norse meta, Gothic mitan, German messen to measure, Greek mḗdesthai to ponder
Origin of mete2
1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French < Latin mēta goal, turning post
Explanation
If you "mete out" something (the word is usually followed by "out"), it means you dish it out in very careful measured amounts. Anyone who metes out their love probably isn't someone you want to have a relationship with. Another word often used interchangeably with mete is dole, though there are slight differences in meaning: dole suggests a more lavish, unthinking form of activity than the more stingy and controlled mete, and while some nice things (like compassion or love) can be "doled out," it's very rare that anything pleasant or happy is "meted out."
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.
See Examples For:
They are assured they won’t need to remain in a game for as long as past pitchers who had to mete out velocity judiciously so they could finish nine innings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Williams’ Anna absorbs his fury as though it were the penance she herself would mete out for her sins.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
They started to mete out desegregation orders with teeth, requiring busing if necessary.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024
And yet Himes is able to garner sympathy and adulation for these two men who, within the world of Himes’s Harlem, try their best to mete out justice equally under an inherently unjust system.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
He went so far as to hope that human justice would mete out punishment unflinchingly.
From "The Stranger" by Albert Camus
He’s hardly able to parry the upbraiding meted out by Mr. Giamatti’s Jean, fastidiously dressed and radiating pompous self-satisfaction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Filmmaking has not been exempt from the disruption meted out onto the creative industries by AI's rapid development in recent years.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
Unified’s 74th Street Elementary School, said discipline should not be meted out with a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2025
"Raging" Rangers interim manager Barry Ferguson has vowed to "make changes" for the final few matches of the Scottish Premiership season after Hibernian meted out a record-breaking fifth consecutive defeat at Ibrox.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2025
He was aware of the other players around him, hel- meted and grotesque, creatures from an unknown world.
From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
Shew said he and other election officials will focus on meting out the state’s voting laws fairly and helping make sure the public understands them.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2024
Over more than 50 years since, the Globetrotters have been ruthless in meting out their revenge.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2023
Currently two separate bodies are responsible for monitoring potential money laundering and meting out sanctions, the Central Office for Sanctions Enforcement and the Central Office for Financial Transaction Investigations.
From Reuters ● Jul. 24, 2023
But Mr. Ruto also stoked popular anger by meting out harsh economic medicine to his own supporters and adopting an uncompromising stance toward critics.
From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2023
Then said the Earl: ‘What hath that whelp to do with the meting out of grace?’
From The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald The Tyrant (Harald Haardraade) by Ethel Harriet Hearn
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.
