mediate
/ˈmidieɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.13 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To resolve differences, or to bring about a settlement, between conflicting parties.
Transitive verb
verb
To intervene between conflicting parties in order to resolve differences or bring about a settlement.
Intransitive verb
verb
To act as an intermediary causal or communicative agent; to convey.
verb
To act as a spiritualistic medium.
adj
Intermediate between extremes.
Example Sentences
- "Negotiators managed to mediate a ceasefire."
- ""Nay," replied Charles, gravely, "this is carrying your anger too far. Allow me to mediate between you. I must entreat, nay, I command, the Lady Francesca's presence.""
- "Then, Meaſuring Land, by vvalking over it, they ſtyled a Double-ſtep (i.e. the Space from the elevation of one Foot, to the ſame Foot ſet dovvn again, mediated by a ſtep of the other Foot) a Pace, equal to 5 Foot; a Thouſand of vvhich Paces made a Mile, vvhich is a Meaſure ſerving for any diſtance on Earth, and even for the Height of the Sphears."
- "He had some advantage in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was longer than mine, […] His obvious malignity of purpose never for a moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and strategem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he mediated the most desperate catastrophe to our rencounter."
- "[A]s much as language in our modern technological world is mediated through the written word, quantitatively spoken language still reigns supreme."
- "The Leibnitzio-Wolfians distinguish three acts in the process of representative cognition: — 1° the act of representing a (mediate) object to the mind; 2° the representation, or, to speak more properly, representamen, itself as an (immediate or vicarious) object exhibited to the mind; 3° the act by which the mind is conscious, immediately of the representative object, and, through it, mediately of the remote object represented."
Etymology
The adjective is first attested in the 1440s in Middle English, the verb in 1538; from Middle English mediat(e) (“intermediate; intercessory”), borrowed from Late Latin mediātus, perfect passive participle of mediō (“to divide in the middle; (in Medieval Latin) to be in the middle, be or become between, mediate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from medius (“middle”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).
Origin
- Source language: Middle English
- First known use: first attested in the 1440s
Word Breakdown
- Root: mediat, mediātus
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmidieɪt/