mediate

See also: médiate

English

Etymology

Borrowed 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 Latin medius (“middle”).

Pronunciation

• (verb) (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmidieɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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.

   Negotiators managed to mediate a ceasefire.

2. (intransitive) To intervene between conflicting parties in order to resolve differences or bring about a settlement.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XLII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 352:

     "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."

3. To divide into two equal parts.
   • 1694, William Holder, “Of Measure in General. § More Particularly of Time; and Difficulties Concerning It.”, in A Discourse Concerning Time, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall, for L[uke] Meredith, […], →OCLC, page 6:

     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.

4. To act as an intermediary causal or communicative agent; to convey.
   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 251–252:

     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.

   • 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 8:

     [A]s much as language in our modern technological world is mediated through the written word, quantitatively spoken language still reigns supreme.

5. To act as a spiritualistic medium.
6. To communicate via media; to frame; to provide a cultural narrative about.

Related terms

• mean
• median
• mediation
• mediator
• medium

Translations

resolve differences

• Bulgarian: посреднича (bg) (posredniča)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 經調解達成／经调解达成 (jīng tiáojiě dáchéng)

• Finnish: sovitella (fi), toimia välittäjänä, välittää (fi)
• German: schlichten (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: μεσιτεύω (mesiteúō)

• Italian: mediare (it)
• Romanian: media (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: pòsredovati (sh)
• Spanish: mediar (es)
• Swedish: medla (sv), förhandla (sv), förlika (sv)

intervene between conflicting parties

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 調解／调解 (zh) (tiáojiě)

• Esperanto: peri
• Finnish: sovitella (fi), välittää (fi)
• German: vermitteln (de)
• Gothic: 𐌼𐌹𐌳𐌿𐌼𐍉𐌽 (midumōn)
• Greek: μεσολαβώ (el) (mesolavó)
• Hungarian: közbenjár (hu), közvetít (hu)
• Italian: mediare (it)
• Macedonian: посредува (posreduva)
• Serbo-Croatian: pòsredovati (sh)
• Spanish: mediar (es), terciar (es)
• Swedish: medla (sv)

act as communicative agent

• Latvian: būt par vidutāju
• Spanish: vehicular (es)
• Ukrainian: опосередко́вувати (uk) impf (oposeredkóvuvaty), опосередкува́ти pf (oposeredkuváty)

Adjective

mediate

1. Acting through a mediating agency, indirect.
   • 1861, Sir William Hamilton, The Metaphysics of Sir William Hamilton, page 318:

     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.

   • 1989, Oliver Sacks, Seeing Voices: A Journey Into the World of the Deaf:

     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.
   • 1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “Charity”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

     soon the mediate clouds shall be dispell'd

3. Gained or effected by a medium or condition.
   • 1605, Francis Bacon, “(please specify |book=1 or 2)”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], →OCLC:

     mediate positive proof

   • 2019, W. Kang, G. H. Mead’s Concept of Rationality, page 86:

     The attempt of members of a society to observe and preserve mediate phases of acts in recurrent situations brings about the perpetuation of a mediate field in their society, in which a complex series of abstracted implements are prepared or premediated in advance of future acts.

Derived terms

• immediate
• immediately
• mediately

Translations

Acting through a mediating agency

• Swedish: medelbar (sv), indirekt (sv)

intermediate — see intermediate

Further reading

• “mediate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “mediate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• medaite

Italian

Adjective

mediate f pl

1. feminine plural of mediato

Verb

mediate

1. inflection of mediare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person plural imperative
   3. feminine plural past participle

Anagrams

• medietà

Latin

Participle

mediāte

1. vocative masculine singular of mediātus

Spanish

Verb

mediate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of mediar combined with te