medium

/'mi:djəm/

Thân thiện

A chef checks the steak to ensure it is cooked to a perfect medium.

Definition

1. Noun:

   • An intervening substance or environment: A substance or space through which something is transmitted, carried, or expressed.
   • A means or channel of communication or expression: A method or system used to convey information, ideas, or artistic content.
   • A middle state or condition: A position between two extremes; a compromise.
   • A person claiming to communicate with the spirits of the dead: A spiritual intermediary.

2. Adjective:

   • Of intermediate size, amount, or quality: Neither large nor small, high nor low; average.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:

  • Water is the medium in which fish live. (Water is the environment for fish.)
  • Television is a powerful medium for advertising. (Television is a powerful channel for advertising.)
  • He seeks a happy medium between work and leisure. (He seeks a balanced position between work and leisure.)
  • The psychic claimed to be a medium. (The psychic claimed to be a conduit to the spirit world.)

• Adjective:

  • She wears a medium-sized shirt. (She wears a shirt of intermediate size.)
  • Cook the steak to a medium level of doneness. (Cook the steak until it is neither rare nor well-done.)

Advanced Usage

• "The medium is the message": A famous phrase suggesting that the form of communication (the medium) shapes the meaning of the content more than the content itself.
• "Through the medium of": By means of; using a particular channel or method.
  • He expressed his ideas through the medium of poetry. (He used poetry as his method of expression.)

Variants and Related Words

• Media (n, plural): The main means of mass communication (e.g., television, radio, newspapers) collectively. Often used with a singular or plural verb.
  • The media is covering the event extensively.
• Intermedium (n, rare): An intervening agent or means.
• Medial (adj): Situated in the middle.

Synonyms

• Noun: Means, channel, vehicle, environment, milieu, intermediary, average.
• Adjective: Average, intermediate, mid-sized, moderate.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs/Collocations)

• Strike a medium / Find a medium: To find a compromise or middle ground.
  • We need to strike a medium between cost and quality.
• Medium of exchange: Something (like money) used as a standard for trading goods and services.

Related Idioms

• A happy medium: A satisfactory compromise between two extremes.
  • Their policy is a happy medium between strict control and complete freedom.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. (meat) cooked until there is just a little pink meat inside
2. around the middle of a scale of evaluation
   • an orange of average size
   • intermediate capacity
   • medium bombers

Noun

1. an occupation for which you are especially well suited
   • in law he found his true metier
2. (usually plural) transmissions that are disseminated widely to the public
3. someone who serves as an intermediary between the living and the dead
   • he consulted several mediums
4. a state that is intermediate between extremes; a middle position
   • a happy medium
5. an intervening substance through which something is achieved
   • the dissolving medium is called a solvent
6. (biology) a substance in which specimens are preserved or displayed
7. a liquid with which pigment is mixed by a painter
8. (bacteriology) a nutrient substance (solid or liquid) that is used to cultivate micro-organisms
9. an intervening substance through which signals can travel as a means for communication
10. the surrounding environment
    • fish require an aqueous medium
11. a means or instrumentality for storing or communicating information

Từ đồng nghĩa

• average
• intermediate
• metier
• mass medium
• spiritualist
• sensitive
• culture medium