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Synonyms

mete

1 American  
[meet] / mit /

verb (used with object)

meted, meting

  1. to distribute or apportion by measure; allot; dole (usually followed byout ).

    to mete out punishment.
    Synonyms:
    parcel, measure, deal

  2. Archaic. to measure.

mete 2 American  
[meet] / mit /

noun

  1. a limiting mark.

  2. a limit or boundary.

    Synonyms:
    bound
mete 1 British  
/ miːt /

verb

  1. formal (usually foll by out) to distribute or allot (something, often unpleasant)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. poetic (to) measure

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
mete 2 British  
/ miːt /

noun

  1. rare a mark, limit, or boundary (esp in the phrase metes and bounds )

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • unmeted adjective

Etymology

Origin of mete1

before 900; Middle English; Old English metan; cognate with Dutch meten, Old Norse meta, Gothic mitan, German messen to measure, Greek mḗdesthai to ponder

Origin of mete2

1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French < Latin mēta goal, turning post

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.