average is the quotient obtained by dividing the sum total of a set of figures by the number of figures.
scored an average of 85 on tests
mean may be the simple average or it may represent value midway between two extremes.
a high of 70° and a low of 50° give a mean of 60°
median applies to the value that represents the point at which there are as many instances above as there are below.
average of a group of persons earning 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10 dollars an hour is 6 dollars, whereas the median is 5 dollars
norm means the average of performance of a significantly large group, class, or grade.
scores about the norm for fifth grade arithmetic
Example Sentences
VerbThe season of backyard barbecues and lakeside cookouts is at hand, which in most parts of the country means an orgy of grilled steaks, hamburgers and hot dogs lasting until Labor Day and beyond. R. W. Apple, Jr., New York Times, 5 June 2002Even the water in the cave was free from surface contamination … which meant that all the water now in Lechugilla percolated into the cave before the widespread nuclear bomb testing of the 1940s … Jon Krakauer, Air & Space, October/November 1995Home meant my father, with kind eyes, songs, and tense recitations for my brother and myself. Gwendolyn Brooks, Booklist, 15 Oct. 1993 The word meant one thing in Shakespeare's day, but it means something else now. Red means “stop” and green means “go.” Can you tell me what my dream means? What was meant by the poet? Don't distort what she meant by taking her words out of context. He's very ambitious, and I mean that as a compliment. It's a very easy question. Anyone, and I mean anyone, should be able to answer it. She's not getting any thinner, if you know what I mean. She says she didn't mean anything by what she did. I don't trust him. He means no good. Adjective (1)For thirty years he had been a ruthless litigator, the meanest, nastiest, and without a doubt one of the most effective courtroom brawlers in Chicago. John Grisham, The Chamber, 1995… the streets of Spanish Harlem are meaner than when he left them, and they're pulling him back in. Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, 9 Dec. 1993… what you discover is the one with the tail was old mean landlord Mr. prosperous Prospero who wielded without thought of God or man the merry old cat-o'-nine-tails … Darryl Pinckney, Times Literary Supplement, 23 Aug. 1991Creighton Abrams was a tanker, according to George Patton the meanest tanker the Germans had faced in the whole U.S. Third Army, and he had a temper that matched the fearsome machines he loved. Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, 1988Noun Take all these temperatures and calculate their mean. trying to find a golden mean between doing too little and doing too much See More
Word History
Etymology
Verb
Middle English menen, from Old English mǣnan; akin to Old High German meinen to have in mind, Old Church Slavonic měniti to mention
Adjective (1)
Middle English mene, from imene common, shared, from Old English gemǣne; akin to Old High German gimeini common, Latin communis common, munus service, gift, Sanskrit mayate he exchanges
Adjective (2) and Noun
Middle English mene, from Anglo-French mene, meiene, from Latin medianus — more at median