Definition of "medium"

medium

/ˈmiː.di.əm/

noun
plural media or mediums
1. The material of the surrounding environment, e.g. solid, liquid, gas, vacuum, or a specific substance such as a solvent.
2. The materials or empty space through which signals, waves, or forces pass.
  Quotations
  Whether any other Liquours, being made Mediums, cause a Diuersity of Sound from Water, it may be tried:
  1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, III. Century, p. 60
  He’s old and jealous, apt for suspitions, gainst which tyrants earsAre never clos’d. The Prince is young,Fierce, and ambitious, I must bring togetherAll these extreames, and then remove all Mediums,That each may be the others object.
  1642, John Denham, The Sophy‎, London: Thomas Walkley, act II, scene 1, page 12
3. A format for communicating or presenting information.
  Quotations
  ...at all events, she drank in with eager ear, and admiring mind, anecdote and history of all those excellent traits of disposition, and nobleness of conduct, which made him the idol of his describer, and gave her a knowledge of his temper and character, and the manner in which his boyhood and youth had passed, which she could never have gained by any other medium, and which it was unquestionably right she should know.
  1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XLV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], page 272
  Too often writing—in the broadest sense—is treated as a communicational medium where the subjects of that communication are constituted prior to the writing, where the objects of that communication are also constituted prior to that writing, and where the task of writing is seen as transparently mediating between already pregiven subjects, pregiven objects, and a preconstituted mise en scène.
  2015, “Staging the Politics of Difference: Homi Bhabha's Critical Literacy, Gary A. Olson and Lynn Worsham.”, in Gary A. Olson, Lynn Worsham, Henry A. Giroux, editors, Politics of Possibility: Encountering the Radical Imagination, page 133
4. (microbiology) A nutrient substance, commonly a solution or solid, for the growth of cells in vitro.
  Quotations
  In some instances one can take advantage of differential carbohydrate fermentation capabilities of microorganisms by incorporating one or more carbohydrates in the medium along with a suitable pH indicator. Such media are called differential media (e.g., eosin methylene blue or MacConkey agar) and are commonly used to isolate enteric bacilli.
  1996, Samuel Baron, editor, Medical Microbiology
5. (biology, horticulture etc.) A substance, structure, or environment in which living organisms subsist, grow or are cultured.
  Quotations
  The density of the living medium of fishes exerts upon them a mechanical influence; they are, so to say, balanced in water, free to proceed in all planes of direction...
  1895, Bashford Dean., Fishes, Living and Fossil
6. A means, channel, agency or go-between through which communication, commerce, etc is conveyed or carried on, or by which an aim is achieved.
  Quotations
  His loyalty to the English was doubtful and wavering, and his opposition to Post's journey was probably due to fears that his own importance as a medium between the Ohio Indians and the English would be diminished by the former's success.
  2007, Reuben Gold Thwaites, Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Reprint Services Corporation, page 186
7. (engineering) The materials used to finish a workpiece using a mass finishing or abrasive blasting process.
8. (countable, plural mediums or media) A liquid base which carries pigment in paint.
9. (painting) A means of expression, in the arts, such as a material (oil, pastel, clay, etc) or method or style (expressionism, jazz, etc).
  Quotations
  Heretofore in following the course, the student has been confined to black and white in the medium of charcoal, pen and ink or pencil. The first introduction to color is by means of the Still Life painting class.
  1898, Report of the Public Schools of the State of Missouri, Missouri: Department of Education, page 98
  It was the woodcut, however, that emerged as the favorite graphic medium of Expressionism. Rejecting the almost limitless pictorial possibilities of lithography, which had dominated printmaking during the nineteenth century, […]
  1966, John P. Sedgwick, Discovering Modern Art: The Intelligent Layman's Guide to Painting from Impressionism to Pop
  So we get a people in rebellion against a dominant majority, but forced to rebel secretly, to sublimate, as the psychologist would put it — to express themselves culturally through the medium of jaz , and linguistically through a code, a jargon ...
  1967, Barnet Kottler, Martin Light, The World of Words: A Language Reader
  Prose is not the preferred medium of expressionism, yet some outstanding individual examples come to mind, for example: Robert Walser's (1876–1956) surrealistic miniatures and novels of a dreamlike structure reminiscent of Kafka […]
  1974, Karl Siegfried Weimar, German Language and Literature: Seven Essays, Prentice Hall
  The Pulitzer board said the award was given “in recognition of his musical genius, which evoked aesthetically the principles of democracy through the medium of jazz and thus made an indelible contribution to art and culture.”
  1999, Jet, page 29
10. (countable, logic) The mean or middle term of a syllogism, that by which the extremes are brought into connection.
11. (countable, spiritualism, plural mediums) Someone who supposedly conveys information from the spirit world.
  Quotations
  The hall was not too well lit and dark shadows lurked in the corners. The medium still bent her head as if her ears were straining.
  1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019
12. (countable) A middle place or degree.
  Quotations
  [T]he Just Medium of This Case lies betwixt the Pride, and the Abjection of the Two Extreams.
  1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Anianus, &c.] Fab[le] 215. An Oak and a Willow, Reflexion.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], page 188
  Her height was pretty […] her figure particularly graceful; her size a most becoming medium, between fat and thin […]
  1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter II, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, page 29
  In search of the principle on which joints ought to be roasted, to be roasted enough, and not too much, I myself referred to the Cookery Book […] . But the principle always failed us by some curious fatality, and we never could hit any medium between redness and cinders.
  1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “Our Housekeeping”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, page 453
13. (countable, dated) An average; sometimes the mathematical mean.
  Quotations
  The number of Britiſh ſhips annually arriving in our ports vvas reduced to 1756 ſail, containing 92.559 tons, on a medium of the ſix years vvar, compared vvith the ſix years of peace preceding it.
  1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], page 5
14. Anything of a middle rank or position.
  Quotations
  Cavalry […] is divided into mediums, heavies, and light cavalry.
  1891, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, The Historic Note-book: With an Appendix of Battles, page 153
noun
countable and uncountable, plural mediums
1. (uncountable, especially clothing, food or drink) One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured.
2. (countable, especially clothing, food or drink) An item labelled or denoted as being that size.
3. (countable, especially with respect to clothing) One who fits an item of that size.
4. (countable, Ireland, dated, informal) A half-pint serving of Guinness (or other stout in some regions).
adjective
not comparable
1. (obsolete) Arithmetically average.
2. Of intermediate size, degree, amount etc.
3. Of meat, cooked to a point greater than rare but less than well done; typically, so the meat is still red in the centre.
4. (especially clothing, food or drink) That is medium (the manufactured size).
adverb
not comparable
1. To a medium extent.