median

  

me·di·an

[mee-dee-uhn]
adjective
1.
noting or pertaining to a plane dividing something into two equal parts, especially one dividing an animal into right and left halves.
2.
situated in or pertaining to the middle; medial.
noun
3.
Arithmetic, Statistics. the middle number in a given sequence of numbers, taken as the average of the two middle numbers when the sequence has an even number of numbers: 4 is the median of 1, 3, 4, 8, 9.
4.
Geometry. a straight line from a vertex of a triangle to the midpoint of the opposite side.
5.
Also called midpoint. a vertical line that divides a histogram into two equal parts. Compare central tendency.
6.
median strip.
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Median is always a great word to know.
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bottom number in a fraction
the state or relation of being different; dissimilarity:
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Origin:
1535–45; < Latin mediānus in the middle. See medium, -an

Related forms
me·di·an·ly, adverb
post·me·di·an, adjective
pre·me·di·an, noun, adjective
sub·me·di·an, adjective

Can be confused: 1. mean, median ; 2. media, median, medium, mediums (see usage note at media).
Dictionary.com Unabridged

Me·di·an

[mee-dee-uhn]
adjective
1.
of or pertaining to Media, the Medes, or their language.
noun
2.
a Mede.
3.
the Iranian language of ancient Media, contemporaneous with Old Persian.
Origin:
1595–1605; Medi(a) + -an

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To median
Collins
World English Dictionary
Mede (miːd) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
a member of an Indo-European people of West Iranian speech who established an empire in SW Asia in the 7th and 6th centuries bc
 
'Median
 
—n, —adj

median (ˈmiːdɪən) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—adj
1.  of, relating to, situated in, or directed towards the middle
2.  biology of or relating to the plane that divides an organism or organ into symmetrical parts
3.  statistics of or relating to the median
 
—n
4.  a middle point, plane, or part
5.  geometry
 a.  See also centroid a straight line joining one vertex of a triangle to the midpoint of the opposite side
 b.  a straight line joining the midpoints of the nonparallel sides of a trapezium
6.  statistics the middle value in a frequency distribution, below and above which lie values with equal total frequencies
7.  statistics the middle number or average of the two middle numbers in an ordered sequence of numbers: 7 is the median of both 1, 7, 31 and 2, 5, 9, l6
8.  (Canadian) Also called: central reservation the strip, often covered with grass, that separates the two sides of a highway
 
[C16: from Latin mediānus, from medius middle]
 
'medianly
 
—adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

median
1592, from M.Fr. médian, from L. medianus "of the middle," from medius "middle" (see medial). Originally anatomical, of veins, arteries, nerves; mathematical sense "middle number of a series" first recorded 1902; median strip "strip between lanes of a highway" is from 1954.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

median me·di·an (mē'dē-ən)
adj.

  1. Relating to, located in, or extending toward the middle.

  2. Of, relating to, or situated in or near the plane that divides a bilaterally symmetrical animal into right and left halves; mesial.

  3. Of, relating to, or constituting the middle value in a distribution.

n.

  1. A median point, plane, line, or part.

  2. The middle value in a distribution, above and below which lie an equal number of values.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Science Dictionary
median   (mē'dē-ən)  Pronunciation Key 

  1. In a sequence of numbers arranged from smallest to largest:

    1. The middle number, when such a sequence has an odd number of values. For example, in the sequence 3, 4, 14, 35, 280, the median is 14.

    2. The average of the two middle numbers, when such a sequence has an even number of values. For example, in the sequence 4, 8, 10, 56, the median is 9 (the average of 8 and 10). Compare arithmetic mean, average, mode.

  2. A line joining a vertex of a triangle to the midpoint of the opposite side.


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

median definition


The point in a series at which half of the values or units of the series are higher and half lower.

median definition


In statistics, the middle value of a set of numbers or data points; half the figures will fall below the median and half above. (See average; compare mean and mode.)

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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