median

noun me·di·an \ ˈmē-dē-ən \

|Updated on: 19 Jun 2018

Definition of median

1 : a medial (see medial 2b) part (such as a vein or nerve)

2 a : a value in an ordered set of values below and above which there is an equal number of values or which is the arithmetic mean of the two middle values if there is no one middle number

b : a vertical line that divides the histogram of a frequency distribution into two parts of equal area

c : a value of a random variable for which all greater values make the cumulative distribution function greater than one half and all lesser values make it less than one half

3 a : a line from a vertex (see vertex 2) of a triangle to the midpoint of the opposite side

b : a line joining the midpoints of the nonparallel sides of a trapezoid (see trapezoid 1a)

4 : median strip

See median defined for English-language learners

See median defined for kids

Recent Examples of median from the Web

Houston firefighters were called around 1 a.m. to South Gessner and Beverly Hill after a Chevrolet Corvette drove onto a median and hit the tree, totaling the car.

— robert downen, Houston Chronicle, "One rescued from car after crashing into tree in West Houston," 16 June 2018
The median funding raised by all black women founders is $0.

— ellen mcgirt, Fortune, "raceAhead: Black Women Company Founders Need Investment," 13 June 2018
On Semiconductor had the widest pay gap among Arizona companies, with CEO Keith Jackson earning $10.78 million, or 973 times the median or midpoint employee pay of $11,035.

— russ wiles, azcentral, "Arizona CEOs earn about 80 times more than average workers at their companies," 13 June 2018
Tech- and consulting-firm median salaries rose just 9%—to $125,000 and $147,000, respectively—over the same period.

— pat minczeski, WSJ, "Why Banks Are Losing the Battle for M.B.A. Talent," 6 June 2018
Place the entire shell carefully into the ground or the growing median.

— stan davidson, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Use recyclable items to plant seedlings," 4 June 2018
In mid-March, a man was killed when his Tesla Model X struck a concrete median in Mountain View, California.

— chuck tannert, Popular Mechanics, "Dumb Drivers, Smart Cars: How We Prevent the Next ‘Semi-Autonomous’ Car Crash," 2 June 2018
Privacy - Terms The report says Bennett fled that crash by driving over the raised median into oncoming traffic, then headed west in the eastbound lanes.

— madeleine marr, miamiherald, "'I hope you die:' He smashed into three cars, then took off on foot, cops say," 1 June 2018
Across the companies in our sample, which paid their chief executives a median salary of $9m and their rank-and-file employees a median of $69,000, ratios are heavily influenced by factors such as company size and industry.

— The Economist, "American firms reveal the gulf between bosses’ and workers’ pay," 26 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'median.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

People often use the word average without realizing that there are two common forms of average. Suppose you want to find the average net worth of a group of people—that is, the average value of everything they possess. To find one type of average, called the mean, you'd simply add up the total value of money and property of everyone in the group and divide it by the number of people. To find the other type, called the median, you'd identify the net worth of the person who is richer than half the people and poorer than the other half. So if Warren Buffett drove through a tiny village in India, the mean net worth of those in the village would suddenly rise to perhaps a billion dollars, but their median net worth would remain close to zero. Which figure would be more meaningful?

Origin and Etymology of median

Middle English mediane, from Late Latin mediana (vena) median (vein), from feminine of Latin medianus in the middle, central, from medius middle — more at mid

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Synonym Discussion of median

average, mean, median, norm mean something that represents a middle point. average is the quotient obtained by dividing the sum total of a set of figures by the number of figures.

- scored an average of 85 on tests

mean may be the simple average or it may represent value midway between two extremes.

- a high of 70° and a low of 50° give a mean of 60°

median applies to the value that represents the point at which there are as many instances above as there are below.

- average of a group of persons earning 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10 dollars an hour is 6 dollars, whereas the median is 5 dollars

norm means the average of performance of a significantly large group, class, or grade.

- scores about the norm for fifth grade arithmetic

Other Anatomy Terms

bilateral symmetry, carotid, cartilage, dorsal, entrails, prehensile, renal, solar plexus, supine, thoracic, ventral

median

adjective

Definition of median

1 : being in the middle or in an intermediate position : medial

2 : lying in the plane dividing a bilateral animal into right and left halves

3 : relating to or constituting a statistical median

4 : produced without occlusion along the lengthwise middle line of the tongue

—

medianly

adverb

See median defined for English-language learners

Examples of median in a Sentence

What is the median price of homes in this area?
the median price of a home in the area

Recent Examples of median from the Web

During the chase, the Jeep went over a median on 23rd Street near Cedar Avenue and sped away toward the freeway.

— max londberg and mike hendricks, kansascity, "KC man killed in quadruple fatality was headed to see his newborn, father says," 2 June 2018
The exact number — median progression-free survival of 11.8 months — effectively meets the lower end of expectations, which ranged as high as 15 months, based on analyst reports.

— adam feuerstein, STAT, "Bluebird Bio CAR-T delays multiple myeloma progression by one year, but is that enough?," 1 June 2018
However, considering that the median tenure of American employees is 4.2 years per job, there’s a decent chance those two events might coincide at some point, and there’s no right or wrong way to handle it.

— charlotte cowles, The Cut, "7 Women on Getting Hired While Pregnant," 1 June 2018
Thus labour productivity rose by 75% in America from 1973 to 2016, while average pay rose by less than 50% and median pay by just over 10%.

— The Economist, "If wages are to rise, workers need more bargaining power," 31 May 2018
That amounts to an average median price increase of 4.7 percent per year.

— peggy o’hare, San Antonio Express-News, "Mayor, some council members say housing a priority," 30 May 2018
Not surprisingly, Manhattan is where buyers will get the least out of a median budget, at just 126 square feet.

— shannon rooney, Philly.com, "How big a house will $200,000 buy in Philadelphia?," 30 May 2018
The car veered to the right, crossed all lanes of traffic, struck the right barrier wall and then the median traffic barrier head-on, the release said.

— karen pilarski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Wrong-way driver causes crash which injured children; driver is still on the lam," 30 May 2018
Nowadays, the median number of years that wage and salary workers have been with their current employer is 4.2 years, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

— mark fadden, star-telegram, "Welcome to the New World – Part 3 | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 27 May 2018

Origin and Etymology of median

Latin medianus — see ¹median

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1592

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

median Synonyms

MEDIAN Defined for English Language Learners

median

noun

Definition of median for English Language Learners

mathematics : the middle value in a series of values arranged from smallest to largest

median

adjective

Definition of median for English Language Learners

: in the middle; especially mathematics : having a value that is in the middle of a series of values arranged from smallest to largest

MEDIAN Defined for Kids

median

noun me·di·an \ ˈmē-dē-ən \

Definition of median for Students

: a value in a series arranged from smallest to largest below and above which there are an equal number of values or which is the average of the two middle values if there is no one middle value

The median of the set 1, 3, 7, 12, 19 is 7.

Medical Dictionary

median

noun me·di·an \ ˈmēd-ē-ən \

medical Definition of median

1 : a medial part (as a vein or nerve)

2 a : a value in an ordered set of values below and above which there is an equal number of values or which is the arithmetic mean of the two middle values if there is no one middle number

b : a vertical line that divides the histogram of a frequency distribution into two parts of equal area