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.

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mete ² American  

[meet] / mit /

noun

1. a limiting mark.

2. a limit or boundary.

   Synonyms:

   bound

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mete ¹ British  

/ miːt /

verb

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

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verb

1. poetic (to) measure

mete ² British  

/ miːt /

noun

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

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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

Explanation

If you "mete out" something (the word is usually followed by "out"), it means you dish it out in very careful measured amounts. Anyone who metes out their love probably isn't someone you want to have a relationship with. Another word often used interchangeably with mete is dole, though there are slight differences in meaning: dole suggests a more lavish, unthinking form of activity than the more stingy and controlled mete, and while some nice things (like compassion or love) can be "doled out," it's very rare that anything pleasant or happy is "meted out."

Example Sentences

This handy online timer tool inspired by said technique will automatically mete out your work sprints and build in breaks.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2025

Of course, she already knew much about oppression from Miss Asthma, a crone quick to mete out punishments like “one long supperless week” when Annie sticks up for herself.

From Slate • Aug. 17, 2024

They started to mete out desegregation orders with teeth, requiring busing if necessary.

From Seattle Times • May 16, 2024

And yet Himes is able to garner sympathy and adulation for these two men who, within the world of Himes’s Harlem, try their best to mete out justice equally under an inherently unjust system.

From New York Times • Feb. 2, 2024

During one of my last visits to the reservation, in June 2015, I went to the Osage Nation Court, where, in many criminal cases, the Osage now mete out their own justice.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann