mean
adj 1: approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value; "the average income in New England is below that of the nation"; "of average height for his age"; "the mean annual rainfall" [syn: average, mean(a)]
2: characterized by malice; "a hateful thing to do"; "in a mean mood" [syn: hateful] 3: having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality; "that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble"- Edmund Burke; "taking a mean advantage"; "chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort"- Shakespeare; "something essentially vulgar and meanspirited in politics" [syn: base, meanspirited] 4: excellent; "famous for a mean backhand" 5: marked by poverty befitting a beggar; "a beggarly existence in the slums"; "a mean hut" [syn: beggarly] 6: used of persons or behavior; characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity; "a mean person"; "he left a miserly tip" [syn: mingy, miserly, tight] 7: used of sums of money; so small in amount as to deserve contempt [syn: beggarly] n : an average of n numbers computed by adding some function of the numbers and dividing by some function of n [syn: mean value] v 1: mean or intend to express or convey; "You never understand what I mean!"; "what do his words intend?" [syn: intend]
