means

See also: Means

English

Etymology

See mean (“method or course of action used to achieve some result”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /miːnz/
• (US) IPA^(key): /minz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːnz

Noun

means

1. plural of mean

Noun

means (plural means)

1. An instrument or condition for attaining a purpose.

   She treated him as a means to an end.

   A car is a means of transport.

   • 1622, Francis Bacon, History of the reign of King Henry VII:

     And by this means also he had them the more at vantage, being tired and harassed with a long march; and more at mercy, being cut off far from their country, and therefore not able by any sudden flight to get to retreat, and to renew their troubles.

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, act V, scene 1:

     Our hope in him is dead: let us return,
     And strain what other means is left unto us
     In our dear peril.

   • 2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6:

     In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.

Noun

means pl (plural only)

1. (uncountable) Resources; riches.

   a person of means;   independent means

   He was living beyond his means.

   • 1676, Richard Baxter, A Treatise of Justifying Righteousness, page 163:

     Where there is much means to be used, and conditions yet to be performed, for the continuation and Consummation of our Justification, there it is not yet continued or consummate.

   • 1888, Karl Marx, edited by Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, page 5:

     Because there is too much civilisation, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce

   • 1921, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary, Authorizing association of producers of agricultural products, page 99:

     Then the other 12 packers […] were men without much means, who lived in Fresno

   • 1955, Rex Stout, “Die Like a Dog”, in Three Witnesses, Bantam Books, published 1994 October, →ISBN, page 154:

     Some kind of writer. He didn't have to make a living; he had means.

Usage notes

Frequently contrasted with end (“goal”), as in “a means to an end”. Similar contrast is process vs. product.

Synonyms

• wherewithal

Derived terms

• by all means
• by any means
• by fair means or foul
• by means of
• by no manner of means
• by no means
• independent means
• k-means clustering
• live beyond one's means
• man of means, woman of means
• means of exchange
• means of grace
• means of labor
• means of production, production means
• means of transport, means of transportation
• means test
• means to an end
• not by any manner of means
• not by any means
• of means
• private means
• production means
• the end justifies the means, the ends justify the means
• ways and means
• within one's means

 

Translations

instrument or condition for attaining a purpose

• Afrikaans: middel (af)
• Armenian: հնար (hy) (hnar)
• Belarusian: спо́саб m (spósab), сро́дак m (sródak)
• Bengali: আওকাত (bn) (aōkat)
• Bulgarian: спо́соб (bg) m (spósob), сре́дство (bg) n (srédstvo)
• Catalan: mitjà (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 方法 (zh) (fāngfǎ)

• Danish: middel (da) n
• Dutch: middel (nl) n
• Esperanto: rimedo (eo)
• Finnish: väline (fi)
• Galician: medio (gl) m
• Georgian: საშუალება (sašualeba), ხერხი (xerxi)
• German: Mittel (de) n
• Greek: μέσο (el) n (méso), δυνατότητες (el) f pl (dynatótites)
• Hebrew: אֶמְצָעִי (he) m (emtzai)
• Hindi: साधन (hi) m (sādhan), संसाधन (hi) m (sansādhan)
• Italian: mezzo (it)
• Japanese: 手段 (ja) (しゅだん, shudan), 方法 (ja) (ほうほう, hōhō)
• Khmer: មធ្យោបាយ (km) (matyoubaay)
• Korean: 방법 (ko) (bangbeop), 수단 (ko) (sudan)
• Latvian: līdzeklis m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: middel (no) n

  Nynorsk: middel n

• Polish: medium (pl) n, środki m pl
• Portuguese: meio (pt)
• Russian: спо́соб (ru) n (spósob), сре́дство (ru) n (srédstvo)
• Spanish: medio (es) m
• Swedish: medel (sv) n
• Ukrainian: спо́сіб (uk) m (spósib), за́сіб (uk) m (zásib)

resources

• Bulgarian: бога́тство (bg) n (bogátstvo), състоя́ние (bg) n (sǎstojánie), сре́дства (bg) n pl (srédstva)
• Czech: prostředky (cs) m pl
• Dutch: middelen (nl) n pl
• Esperanto: rimedoj (eo) pl
• Finnish: varat (fi) pl, varallisuus (fi)
• French: moyens (fr) m pl
• German: Mittel (de) n
• Hindi: संसाधन (hi) m (sansādhan)
• Irish: gustal m
• Latvian: līdzekļi m pl
• Romanian: mijloace n pl
• Russian: бога́тство (ru) n (bogátstvo), состоя́ние (ru) n (sostojánije), сре́дства (ru) n pl (srédstva)
• Spanish: medios (es) m pl
• Telugu: మూలాధారాలు (mūlādhārālu)
• Turkish: kaynak (tr)
• Ukrainian: бага́тство (uk) n (bahátstvo)
• Zulu: icebo (zu) class 5/6, isu class 5/6

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} alat (id), ^{(please verify)} peralatan (id)

Verb

means

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of mean

Anagrams

• namés, names, Seman, amens, manes, neams, ñames, Mensa, mesna, mensa, Manes, manse

Latin

Etymology

Present active participle of meō (“go along, traverse”)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈme.ans/, [ˈmeä̃ːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.ans/, [ˈmɛːäns]

Participle

meāns (genitive meantis); third-declension one-termination participle

1. going along, passing, traversing

Declension

Third-declension participle.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	meāns			meantēs	meantia
genitive	meantis			meantium
dative	meantī			meantibus
accusative	meantem	meāns		meantēs meantīs	meantia
ablative	meante meantī1			meantibus
vocative	meāns			meantēs	meantia

¹When used purely as an adjective.