(music) The middle part of three-part polyphonic music; now specifically, the alto part in polyphonic music; an alto instrument. [from 15th c.]
(statistics) The average of a set of values, calculated by summing them together and dividing by the number of terms; the arithmetic mean. [from 15th c.]
“His meanness is evident in his objections to the liberal welcome which his father gives to his younger brother.”
“I have such a thorough and hearty contempt for meanness of spirit, and for people of narrow ideas, that I can scarcely regard them with common patience.”
“Nothing but meanness is stopping us from enjoying a life of luxury.”
“By his acts of meaning, and those of other individual meaners, the social reality is created, maintained in good order, and continuously shaped and modified.”