ENGLISH
REFERENCE

medium

n. countable
B1 Intermediate Oxford US //ˈmidiəm// UK //mˈiːdiəm// medi·um Academic Archaic General-service Informal

n. a way of communicating information or a specific material used to create art. It can also mean the substance that something lives in or moves through, like soil for a plant.

n. a means or channel through which something is transmitted, expressed, or achieved. In scientific contexts, it refers to the intervening substance through which sensory impressions are conveyed or in which organisms live.


SIMPLE

Video is a powerful medium for telling stories.

CONTEXTUAL

The artist chose charcoal as her primary medium because it allowed for deep, expressive shadows.

COMPLEX

In microbiology, a nutrient-rich agar serves as the growth medium for cultivating specific bacterial colonies under controlled laboratory conditions.

Synonyms
Origin

Borrowed from Latin medium, neuter of medius (“middle”), from Proto-Italic meðjos, from Proto-Indo-European médʰyos (“between”). Compare middle. Doublet of mid, medio, media, and meson.

Usage

The plural form is 'media' when referring to communication or artistic materials, but 'mediums' is often used for spiritualists.

Pitfall

The social medias are changing.Social media is changing.While 'media' is technically plural, 'social media' is usually treated as an uncountable mass noun in modern English.

Idioms1 entry

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