medium (ˈmiːdɪəm
)
Definitions
adjective
- midway between extremes; average ⇒
a medium size
- (of a colour) reflecting or transmitting a moderate amount of light ⇒
a medium red
Compare light1 (sense 29) , dark (sense 2)
noun
- an intermediate or middle state, degree, or condition; mean ⇒
the happy medium
- an intervening substance or agency for transmitting or producing an effect; vehicle ⇒
air is a medium for sound
- a means or agency for communicating or diffusing information, news, etc, to the public ⇒
television is a powerful medium
- a person supposedly used as a spiritual intermediary between the dead and the living
- the substance in which specimens of animals and plants are preserved or displayed
- biology short for culture medium
- the substance or surroundings in which an organism naturally lives or grows
- art
- the category of a work of art, as determined by its materials and methods of production ⇒
the medium of wood engraving
- the materials used in a work of art
- the category of a work of art, as determined by its materials and methods of production ⇒
- any solvent in which pigments are mixed and thinned
- any one of various sizes of writing or printing paper, esp 18 by 23 inches or 17 by 22 inches (small medium)
See also
mediumsWord Origin
C16: from Latin: neuter singular of medius middleSynonyms
View thesaurus entry=
middle,
mean,
centre,
average,
compromise,
middle ground,
middle way
midpoint,
middle course,
middle path
Quotations
"The medium is the message"
Translations
- British English:
medium
You use medium to describe something which is average in size, degree, or amount, or approximately half way along a scale between two extremes.He was of medium height.ˈmiːdɪəm ADJECTIVE He was of medium height.
- Spanish:
mediano
adj mediana
- French:
moyen
adj
- German:
mittelmäßig
adj
- Chinese: 中间的 adj
- Arabic: مُعْتَدِل adj
- Portuguese: médio adj média
- Russian: средний adj средняя
- Croatian: u sredini adj
- Czech: střední adj
- Danish: medium adj
- Dutch: gemiddeld adj
- Finnish: keski- adj
- Greek: μέσος adj μέση
- Italian: medio adj
- Japanese: 中くらいの no_posp
- Korean: 중간의 adj
- Norwegian: mellom- adj
- Polish: średni adj średnia
- Brazilian Portuguese: médio adj média
- European Spanish:
mediano
adj mediana
- Swedish: medel nnt
- Thai: ซึ่งอยู่ระหว่างกลาง adj
- Turkish: ılımlı adj
- Vietnamese: trung dung adj
Usage examples
The first, he saw at once, was Greek Security - fiftyish, of medium height, fit, compact.
, The Quest for K (1986)He said:'There's some intelligence evidence showing that they imported the correct growth medium to grow the Plague bacteria.
Spiked (2003)Budget 2002 contained a very conservative GDP growth projection for the medium term of around 5 per cent.
Irish Times (2002)Later, he reveals he would like to go to a medium to be reassured his father was no longer in any pain.
Glasgow Herald (2001)In these early days of the medium , the singers were pretending to sing to a previously recorded tape.
, A TALE OF FOUR HOUSES: Opera at Covent Garden, La Scala, Vienna and the Met since 1945 (2003)