Synonyms for mean
- adjective
- verb
- noun
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Bad — low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby
bad, poor, base, sorry, low, dirty, petty, inferior, vulgar, despicable, cheap informal, sad, wretched, insignificant, pathetic, ordinary, simple, common, disgusting, unimportant, worthless, lean
2. Little — ungenerous; stingy; tight-fisted
little, ungenerous, stingy, miserly, close, niggardly, shabby, parsimonious, narrow-minded, illiberal, churlish, miserable dated, tight slang UK
3. Ignoble — without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base
ignoble, contemptible, selfish, vile, unkind, hateful, mean-spirited
4. Nasty — intending to cause harm, successfully or otherwise; bearing ill will towards another
Verb
1. Signify — to convey (a meaning). To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea)
3. Imply — to convey (a meaning). Of a person (or animal etc), to intend to express, to imply, to hint at, to allude
4. Bring about — to cause or produce (a given result); to bring about (a given result)
Other
think, think of, have in mind, entail, equal informal
Noun
1. Arithmetic mean — any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of…
2. Way
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Low in quality or degree; inferior; poor; shabby.
- adj. 2
Without dignity of mind; destitute of honour; low-minded; spiritless; base.
You hurt her feelings - that was a mean thing to do.
- v. 1
To convey (a meaning). To convey (a given sense); to signify, or indicate (an object or idea).
The sky is red this morning—does that mean we're in for a storm?
- n. 1
Any function of multiple variables that satisfies certain properties and yields a number representative of its arguments; or, the number so yielded; a measure of central tendency. The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms.
Related words
- Word family
- meanable meandom meanfem meanie meanness mean-spirited means
- Phrases
- arithmetic mean golden mean quadratic mean mean time mean solar time mean solar day mean to mean streets
- Is a kind of
- average
Choose the right word
Base marks a high degree of moral turpitude; vile and mean denote, in different degrees, the want of what is valuable or worthy of esteem. What is base excites our abhorrence; what is vile provokes our disgust or indignation; what is mean awakens contempt.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Example sentences
- sorry I'm sorry to say, but the service isn't very good.
- insignificant There is no such thing as an insignificant detail.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| mean | steady | |
| sorry | rising | |
| insignificant | falling |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- way1, bad1, low1, sad1
- 4 letters
- poor1, base1, lean1, hint1, vile1
- 5 letters
- think1, close1, cause1, sorry2, cheap1, equal2, tight1, dirty2, spell1, nasty2, petty2, cruel2, imply2
- 6 letters
- little2, common2, middle2, simple2, normal2, intend2, wicked2, convey2, vulgar2, shabby2, denote2, entail2, stingy2, unkind2
- 7 letters
- average3, express2, selfish2, propose2, hateful2, signify3, purport2, miserly3, ignoble3
- 8 letters
- ordinary4, indicate3, pathetic3, inferior4, wretched2, churlish2
- 9 letters
- miserable4, worthless2, illiberal, niggardly3
- 10 letters
- disgusting3, despicable4, ungenerous
- 11 letters
- contemplate3, unimportant4
- 12 letters
- contemptible4, parsimonious5
- 13 letters
- insignificant5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (sorry2 = 2 syllables).