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mean3

Pronunciation: /miːn/

Translate mean | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of mean

noun

  • 1the value obtained by dividing the sum of several quantities by their number; an average:acid output was calculated by taking the mean of all three samplesSee also arithmetic mean, geometric mean.
  • 2a condition, quality, or course of action equally removed from two opposite extremes:the measure expresses a mean between saving and splashing out

adjective

[attributive]
  • 1(of a quantity) calculated as a mean; average:participants in the study had a mean age of 35 years
  • 2equally far from two extremes:hope is the mean virtue between despair and presumption

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French meien, from Latin medianus 'middle' (see median)

mean in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of mean in the US English dictionary

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