mediate

Etymology

From Late Latin mediatus, past participle of mediare (“to divide in the middle, in Medieval Latin also to be in the middle, be or become between, mediate”), from medius (“middle”).

Pronunciation

• (verb) (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmidieɪt/
• (adjective) (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmidi.ət/

Verb

mediate (third-person singular simple present mediates, present participle mediating, simple past and past participle mediated)

1. (transitive) To resolve differences, or to bring about a settlement, between conflicting parties.
2. (intransitive) To intervene between conflicting parties in order to resolve differences or bring about a settlement.
3. To divide into two equal parts.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Holder to this entry?)

4. To act as an intermediary causal or communicative agent; convey

Adjective

mediate

1. Acting through a mediating agency, indirect
   • Oliver Sacks

     Vygotsky saw the development of language and mental powers as neither learned, in the ordinary way, nor emerging epigenetically, but as being social and mediate in nature, as arising from the interaction of adult and child, and as internalizing the cultural instrument of language for the processes of thought.

2. Intermediate between extremes.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Prior to this entry?)

3. Gained or effected by a medium or condition.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

   • Sir W. Hamilton

     An act of mediate knowledge is complex.

Further reading

• mediate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• mediate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• medaite

Adjective

mediate f pl

1. feminine plural of mediato

Verb

mediate

1. second-person plural present of mediare
2. second-person plural present subjunctive of mediare
3. second-person plural imperative of mediare
4. feminine plural past participle of mediare

Participle

mediāte

1. vocative masculine singular of mediātus