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means Definition

means (mēnz)

  1. that by which something is done or obtained; agency the fastest means of travel
  2. resources or available wealth; often, specif., great wealth; riches a person of means

Etymology: < mean,

means Idioms

by all means

  1. without fail
  2. of course; certainly

by any means

in any way possible; at all; somehow

by means of

by using; with the aid of; through

by no (manner of) means

not at all; in no way

means to an end

a method of getting or accomplishing what one wants

means Synonyms

means

n.

  1. An instrumentality or instrumentalities

    machinery, mechanism, agency, organ, channel, medium, factor, agent, auspices, power, organization; see also method 2, system 2.

  2. Wealth

    resources, substance, property; see wealth 2.

by all means

of course, certainly, yes indeed; see surely, yes.

by any means

in any way, at all, somehow; see anyhow 2.

by means of

with the aid of, somehow, through; see by 2.

by no (manner of) means

in no way, not possible, not, definitely not; see never, no.

means Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • escape: Occupancy Numbers In most cases the means of escape is designed to evacuate all the occupants of the premises in the required time.
  • subsistence: These tremendous effects... may be traced to the simple cause of the superior power of population to the means of subsistence.
  • communication: They are the primary means of communication with the public.
  • propulsion: The beating of these cilia are the means of propulsion for these highly motile cells.
  • production: The class character of the state is determined by its relation to the forms of property in the means of production.
  • livelihood: They have destroyed a centuries-old tradition, a significant means of livelihood and an effective way of managing wildlife.

Converse of object

  • provide: They provide the primary means of cover in rural areas.
  • devise: At first it seemed to be impossible, but I soon devised a means.
  • justify: Select and justify a suitable means of data analysis.
  • become: Working with new media has become a prominent means of expression for the artist today.

Adjective modifier

  • cost-effective: There are many courses on the Net that could be used in conjunction with local provision, thus providing a cost-effective means of education.
  • effective: To maintain an effective means of reporting back to employees.
  • primary: They provide the primary means of cover in rural areas.
  • sole: CV's will not be accepted as a sole means of application.
  • convenient: ATMs provide a convenient means of obtaining Swiss Francs.
  • preferred: When traveling further afield train travel is the preferred means of transport where possible.

Modifies a noun

  • testing: You promised eight years ago that you would reduce means testing.
  • henry: A matter of operated at a. Its corporate governance spent four years and availability was means quot henry says.
  • test: This explored four possible models for the means test.

Preposition: without

  • permission: Any replication by any means without prior permission is illegal and action may be taken.
means Quotes

Wisdom denotes the pursuing of the best ends by the best means.

—Hutcheson, Francis

To make a start, out of particulars and make them general, rolling up the sum, by defective meansö Sniffing the trees, just another dog among a lot of dogs.What else is there? And to do?

—Williams,William Carlos

I am not charmed with the ideal of life held out by those who think that the normal state of human beings is that of struggling to get on. I know not why it should be a matter of congratulation that persons who are already richer than any one needs to be, should have doubled their means of consuming things which give little or no pleasure except as representative of wealth.

—Mill,John Stuart

The end may justify the means, as long as there is something that justifies the end.

—Trotsky, Leon originally Lev Davidovich Bronstein

Do all the good you can By all the means you can In all the ways you can In all the places you can To all the people you can As long as ever you can.

—Wesley,John

This only grant me, that my means may lie Too low for envy, for contempt too high.

—Cowley, Abraham

The philosophy which isso important in each of us isnot a technical matter; it is our more or less dumb sense of what life honestly and deeply means† it is our individual way of just seeing and feeling the total push and pressure of the cosmos.

—James,William

We are living now, not in the delicious intoxication induced by the early successes of science, but in a rather grisly morning-after, when it has become apparent that what triumphant science has donehitherto isto improve the means for achieving unimproved or actually deteriorated ends.

—Huxley, Aldous Leonard

Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man.

—Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

The end cannot justify the means, for the simple and obvious reason that the means employed determine the nature of the ends produced.

—Huxley, Aldous Leonard

It really means nothing in this country whatsoeveröbut then being a writer here means nothing either.

—Golding, Sir William (Gerald)

We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.

—Book of Common Prayer

Although woman has performed much of the labor of theworld, her industryand economy have beenthevery means of increasing her degradation.

—Stanton, Elizabeth ne¤  e  Cady

Fine clothes are good onlyas they supply the want of other means of procuring respect.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

Politics are now nothing morethanmeans of rising inthe world.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

Il faut compter ses richesses par les moyens qu'on a de satisfaire ses de¤  sirs. We must count our riches by the means we have to satisfy our desires.

—Pre¤  vost, Abbe¤   Antoine-Fran c° ois

It would be unsound fancy and self-contradictory to expect that things which have never yet been done can be done except by means which have never yet been tried.

—Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans

Handle so, dass du die Menschheit, sowohl in deiner Person, als in der Person eines jeden andern, jederzeit zugleich als Zweck, niemals bloÞ als Mittel brauchst. Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end.

—Kant, Immanuel

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slipperyand thought is viscous.

—Adams, Henry Brooks

Perfections of means and confusion of goals seemöin my opinionöto characterize our age.

—Einstein, Albert

Errors look so very ugly in persons of small meansöone feels they are taking quite a liberty in going astray; whereas people of fortunemay naturally indulgeina few delinquencies.

—Eliot, George pseudonym of  MaryAnn Evans

   Power isnot a means, it is an end.One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.

—Orwell, George pseudonym of  Eric Arthur Blair

Don't report what he says, report what he means.

—Anonymous

   Sceptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.

—Sagan, Carl Edward

We took away their countryand their means of support, broke up their mode of living, their habits of life, introduced disease and decayamong them and it was for this and against this they made war.Could anyone expect less?

—Sheridan, Philip Henry

Poetry can communicate the actual quality of experience with a subtletyand precision unapproachable by any other means.

—Leavis, F(rank) R(aymond)

He that purchases a manor will think to have an exact survey of the land, but who thinks of taking so exact a survey of his conscience, how that money was got that purchased that manor? We call that a man's means, which he hath; but that is truly his means, what way he came by it.

—Donne,John