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MEANS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end
Example:
the true way to success
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("means" is a kind of...):
effectuation; implementation (the act of implementing (providing a practical means for accomplishing something); carrying into effect)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "means"):
dint (interchangeable with 'means' in the expression 'by means of')
escape (a means or way of escaping)
fast track (a rapid means of achieving a goal)
instrument; tool (the means whereby some act is accomplished)
road (a way or means to achieve something)
stepping stone (any means of advancement)
expedient (a means to an end; not necessarily a principled or ethical one)
desperate measure (desperate actions taken as a means to an end)
open sesame (any very successful means of achieving a result)
salvation (a means of preserving from harm or unpleasantness)
tooth (a means of enforcement)
voice (a means or agency by which something is expressed or communicated)
wings (a means of flight or ascent)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An instrumentality for accomplishing some end
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("means" is a kind of...):
instrumentality; instrumentation (an artifact (or system of artifacts) that is instrumental in accomplishing some end)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Considerable capital (wealth or income)
Example:
he is a man of means
Synonyms:
means; substance
Classified under:
Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession
Hypernyms ("means" is a kind of...):
capital (wealth in the form of money or property owned by a person or business and human resources of economic value)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "means"):
pocketbook (your personal financial means)
wherewithal (the necessary means (especially financial means))
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Present simple (third person singular) of the verb mean
Context examples:
By all means, my dear, cried Mrs Musgrove, go home directly, and take care of yourself, that you may be fit for the evening.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
What one means one day, you know, one may not mean the next.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Also, an act or means of approaching.
(Access, NCI Thesaurus)
It means that your heart beats too quickly, too slowly, or with an irregular pattern.
(Arrhythmia, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
This means that there is a better chance for treatment.
(Baby Health Checkup, NIH)
Orally bioavailable means that a drug or other substance that is taken by mouth can be absorbed and used by the body.
(Bioavailable, NCI Dictionary)
It means there are abnormal squamous cells in the tissue that lines the outer part of the cervix.
(ASC-H, NCI Dictionary)
Ediacaran organisms do not appear to have mouths, organs or means of moving, so they are thought to have absorbed nutrients from the water around them.
(Why life on Earth first got big, University of Cambridge)
No sunlight means no power, so there was real risk we might freeze to death.
(NASA's Juno Navigators Enable Jupiter Cyclone Discovery, NASA)
This means that water, a dominant carrier of oxygen, is also expected to be overabundant in such atmospheres.
(Water common – yet scarce – in exoplanets, University of Cambridge)
