Anagram Solver

Definitions for Meaning

[1] what is intended to be, or actually is, expressed or indicated; signification; import: the three meanings of a word.
[2] the end, purpose, or significance of something: What is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of this intrusion?
[3] Linguistics . the nonlinguistic cultural correlate, reference, or denotation of a linguistic form; expression. linguistic content (opposed to expression).
[4] intentioned (usually used in combination): She's a well-meaning person.
[5] full of significance; expressive: a meaning look.
[6] to have in mind as one's purpose or intention; intend: I meant to compliment you on your work.
[7] to intend for a particular purpose, destination, etc.: They were meant for each other.
[8] to intend to express or indicate: What do you mean by “liberal”?
[9] to have as its sense or signification; signify: The word “freedom” means many things to many people.
[10] to bring, cause, or produce as a result: This bonus means that we can take a trip to Florida.
[11] to have (certain intentions) toward a person: He didn't mean you any harm.
[12] to have the value of; assume the importance of: Money means everything to them. She means the world to him.
[13] to be minded or disposed; have intentions: Beware, she means ill, despite her solicitous manner.
[14] the sense or significance of a word, sentence, symbol, etc; import; semantic or lexical content
[15] the purpose underlying or intended by speech, action, etc
[16] the inner, symbolic, or true interpretation, value, or message the meaning of a dream
[17] valid content; efficacy a law with little or no meaning
[18] philosophy the sense of an expression; its connotation the reference of an expression; its denotation. In recent philosophical writings meaning can be used in both the above senses See also sense (def. 12)
[19] expressive of some sense, intention, criticism, etc a meaning look
[20] (may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to intend to convey or express
[21] (may take a clause as object or an infinitive) intend she didn't mean to hurt it
[22] (may take a clause as object) to say or do in all seriousness the boss means what he says about strikes
[23] (often passive often foll by for ) to destine or design (for a certain person or purpose) she was meant for greater things
[24] (may take a clause as object) to denote or connote; signify; represent examples help show exactly what a word means
[25] (may take a clause as object) to produce; cause the weather will mean long traffic delays
[26] (may take a clause as object) to foretell; portend those dark clouds mean rain
[27] to have the importance of money means nothing to him
[28] (intr) to have the intention of behaving or acting (esp in the phrases mean well or mean ill )
[29] mean business to be in earnest
[30] mainly British miserly, ungenerous, or petty
[31] humble, obscure, or lowly he rose from mean origins to high office
[32] despicable, ignoble, or callous a mean action
[33] poor or shabby mean clothing ; a mean abode
[34] informal , mainly US and Canadian bad-tempered; vicious
[35] informal ashamed he felt mean about not letting the children go to the zoo
[36] informal , mainly US unwell; in low spirits
[37] slang excellent; skilful he plays a mean trombone
[38] no mean of high quality no mean performer difficult no mean feat
[39] the middle point, state, or course between limits or extremes
[40] moderation
[41] maths the second and third terms of a proportion, as b and c in a/b = c/d another name for average (def. 2) See also geometric mean
[42] statistics a statistic obtained by multiplying each possible value of a variable by its probability and then taking the sum or integral over the range of the variable
[43] intermediate or medium in size, quantity, etc
[44] occurring halfway between extremes or limits; average

Words related to Meaning

definition, substance, interpretation, connotation, essence, explanation, significance, effect, value, understanding, content, hint, context, sense, nuance, implication, spirit, subject, intent, purpose

Words nearby Meaning

meander, meander line, meandering stream, meandrous, meanie, meaning, meaningful, meaningful relationship, meaningless, meanly, meanness

Origin of Meaning

1before 900; Middle English menen, Old English mǣnan; cognate with German meinen, Dutch meenen

Words that may be confused with Meaning

WORDS, THAT, MAY, BE, CONFUSED, WITH, meanmean, mien

Other words from Meaning

mean·ing·ly , adverb
mean·ing·ness , noun
sub·mean·ing , noun
un·der·mean·ing , noun

Word origin for Meaning

C14: via Anglo-Norman from Old French moien, from Late Latin mediānus median

Synonyms for Meaning

connotation, content, context, definition, effect, essence, explanation, hint, implication, interpretation, nuance, sense, significance, spirit, subject, substance, understanding, value, acceptation, allusion, bearing, denotation, drift, force, gist, heart, import, intimation, meat, nitty-gritty, pith, point, purport, stuff, suggestion, symbolization, tenor, thrust, upshot, use, worth, bottom line, name of the game, nature of beast, nuts and bolts, subject matter