Means
[miːnz] or [minz]
Definition
(noun.) how a result is obtained or an end is achieved; 'a means of control'; 'an example is the best agency of instruction'; 'the true way to success'.
(noun.) an instrumentality for accomplishing some end.
(noun.) considerable capital (wealth or income); 'he is a man of means'.
Checker: Merle--From WordNet
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. sing. & pl. [1]. Instrument, method, mode, way.[2]. Resource, appliance, expedient, shift, step, measure.[3]. Revenue, income, resources, the wherewithal, ways and means.
Editor: Vince
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Resources, instrument, media
ANT:End, purpose, object
Checked by Ives
Examples
- Which means, I suppose, that you are not quite clear about your case? Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Until Edison made his wonderful invention in 1877, the human race was entirely without means for preserving or passing on to posterity its own linguistic utterances or any other vocal sound. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- It will by no means follow, however, that the real exchange was against it. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- This means that definite coordinations of activities of the eyes in seeing and of the body and head in striking are perfected in a few trials. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- And education is not a mere means to such a life. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- As I perceive that your boots, although used, are by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are at present busy enough to justify the hansom. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- That's what Bertha means, isn't it? Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- But there is a decided grouping of valuable metals, and these can then be readily separated by means of electricity. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- By no means, Alexandros; for by so doing we would close up the only avenue of escape left to us. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- It was not, however, till the invention of telegraphs that anything approaching to the means of holding regular communication by signals was attained. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- It was said he had got possession of his Indian jewel by means which, bold as he was, he didn't dare acknowledge. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Every king and princelet in Europe was building his own Versailles as much beyond his means as his subjects and credits would permit. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- She had not yet had any anxiety about ways and means, although her domestic life had been expensive as well as eventful. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Oh, bring him by all means, she said smiling; perhaps I can get a tip out of him on my own account. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Always, also, it may be well to bear in mind that by the word 'creation' the zoologist means 'a process he knows not what. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
Inputed by Avis