INTELLIGENCE H fj 6 (formal) (of a person’s under
standing or ability
Alftiii?Al£ttiA) not very great T Jlf (!tfj; This should be clear
even to the meanest
intelligence. AftTIf M A3fcife,
HTWTWo
►
POOR {[£ A 7 (literary) poor and dirty in
appearance
A
ft la lift M : mean houses/streets J3H $L 69 T§- M / if
8 (old-fashioned) bom into or coming
from a low social class tt&ilfeMsTM
► mean-ly ad/ mean ness noun [U] fTSTTTB be no mean ... (approving) used to say that sb
is very good at doing sth T T ®; fll fcB 'fe: His mother was a painter,
and he’s no mean artist himself. f&lft#^;lii!i^C,
ftfeTA-tkflffiifcfe
692#*.
■
noun — see also means
►
►
AVERAGE ■¥■%$ 2 (also arithmetic 'mean) (mathematics
the value found by adding
together all the numbers in a group, and dividing the total by the number of
numbers WUc;
IT5TTC1 the happy/golden 'mean (approving) a course of action
that is not extreme
me ander /mi'aend0(r)/ verb [V, usually +adv./prep.( 1 (of a river, road,
etc. MI. if #&#f) to curve a
lot rather than being in a straight line ^ lift ; ii
ft ft #r: The stream meanders slowly down to the sea. ^ T fpj ^ ^ ft ft M. H #tl ft A o 2 to walk slowly and
change direction often, especially without a particular aim M ffr; ptH M ET771 wander 3 (of a conversation, discussion, etc. ig-, it ^) to
develop slowly and change subject often, in a way that makes it boring or
difficult to understand ( )
Si&, PBW ►me
ander noun: the meanders of
a river
meanderings /mi’aendrirjz/ noun [pi.] 1 a course
that does not follow a straight line $6 IS ft #r 69 f§: the meanderings
of a river/path ft — / TI&
2 walking or talking without any particular aim
fffP; '?jli§: his philosophical
meanderings ffedtfj
meanie (also meany) /'miini/ noun (pi. -ies) (informal) used especially by
children to describe an unkind person who will not give them what they want ( JLH
mean ing 0-w /'miimrj/ noun, adj.
unoun
►
OF SOUND/WORD/SIGN fg-*§- 1 ~ (of
sth) [U,
C]
the thing or idea that a
sound, word, sign, etc. represents ( j&W, fg-^#illft
) MX,
MM:
What’s the meaning of this word?
A ? o
Words
often have several meanings. T ft
ft# A fir o ‘Honesty’? He doesn’t know the
meaning of the word! ? ft&TMii^ftdiff-A^S!
►
OF WHAT SB SAYS/DOES * A 69 m
'if
2
[U, C] the things or
ideas that sb wishes to
communicate to you by what they say or do ( )
MX,
MM: I don’t quite
get your meaning (= understand what
you mean to say). 0 What’s the meaning of
this? I explicitly told
you not to leave the room. i&JIff A
mm? nmis]„
►
OF FEELING/EXPERIENCE fjf/i; 3 [U] the real importance
of a feeling or experience 31 IE Jr H ft; ffl-fjl: With Anna he learned
the meaning of love.
►
OF BOOK/PAINTING #,fg; 18 4 [U, C] the ideas
that a
writer, artist, etc. wishes to
communicate through a book, painting, etc. ( ) MX, #
X > H fJ : several layers of
meaning
f f MIA o There are, of course, deeper meanings in the poem. ^
m,
►
SENSE OF PURPOSE fejfi69 g H 5 [U] the quality or
sense of purpose that makes you feel that your life is valuable
( Aft.69 ) MX, 'ffr'tt, Sfe: Her life seemed to
have lost all meaning. GSAtfffiLo
o Having
a
child gave new meaning to their lives.
m adj. [usually before noun]
= meaningful(2) mean ingful /’miinirjfl/ adj. 1 serious and
important 111! 69; 1IA'&9: a meaningful relationship/
discussion/experience Sf 2 (also
less frequent mean-ing) intended to
communicate or express sth to sb, without any words being spoken M JiiSgTt'lft: She gave me a meaningful
look, ft—BSo 3 having a meaning that is easy to understand M X #1 ffl 69; H T 3I 69: These
statistics are not very
meaningful. ft" A ft M o ► mean-ing-fuMy /-fali/ adv. mean-ing-ful- ness noun [U]
mean ing less /'miimqlas/ adj. 1 without any purpose
or reason and therefore not worth doing or having Hk fiMX#]-, H33pointless: a
meaningless existence 0 We fill up our
lives with meaningless
tasks, 0 ft ft fit#,
A M X o 2 not considered
important ■ ^ fi 3? ; ft ffx ii
P1TO irrelevant : Fines are meaningless to a huge company like that. At A
T ft A o 3 not having a
meaning that is easy to understand M M ^ ift: To me that painting is
completely meaningless. Atfi'A'i#, iii itft
IS 1i 0
► nneaiving*less-ly adv. mean ing-less*ness noun [U] means Or* /mi:nz/ noun (pi. means)
1 [C] ~ (of doing sth/of sth) an action, an object
or a system by which a result is achieved; a way of achieving or doing sth A A Television is
an effective means of
communication. ilfg o Is there any means of
contacting him? A'S
^fft 0 Have you any means
of
identification? ffttP&tfff 0 We needed to
get to
2 [pi.] the
money that a person has M^
; Hif : People should pay according to their means. Ai d S IS A A ^ ^ o O He doesn’t have the means to support a
wife and child. dNo 0 Private school fees
are beyond the means
of most people (= more than they can afford). JiA^^AAA£tt
o 0 Are the
monthly repayments within your means (= can you afford them)? J
H3f ? o
Try
to live within your means (= not spend more
money than you have). ojAAtB» o a man of means (= a rich man) ^ A HTHffl by 'all means used to say that you
are very willing for sb to have sth or do sth nj VJ,; ^ M tf; If] ^ : ‘Do you mind if I have
a look?’ ‘By all means.’ “
tic#—iSff n%? ” ” by means of sth (formal) with
the help of sth f§ BA-Theloadwas
lifted
by means of a crane. by
no means | not by 'any (manner of)
means not
at all A; — tM Z': She is by no means an inexperienced
teacher. 0
0 We haven’t
won yet, not by any
means. Cl JE S # „
a
.means to an 'end a thing or action that is not interesting
or important in itself but is a way of achieving sth else ( @ He
doesn’t particularly like the
work but he sees it as a means to an end. f&AlS RtitB'E#
@ M WfSM E o
— more at end n., fair adj.,
way n.
'means test noun an official check of
sb’s wealth or income in order to decide if they are poor enough to receive
money from the government, etc. for a particular purpose i|jcAiS3S,
) ► 'means-test verb [VN]
'means-tested adj. paid to sb according
to the results of a means test means-tested
benefits
meant pt, pp of mean mean-time /'mimtaim/ noun, adv. mnoun IRT1 for the 'meantime (BrF) for a short period of
time but not permanently BUT; WN-: I’m changing my email
address but for the meantime you can use the old one.