means

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Resources

Nouns — means, resources, wherewithal, money, wealth, capital, backing; materials, ways and means, stock in trade, provision, store, appliances, conveniences; expedients, measures, two strings to one's bow, bag of tricks, cards to play; aid, medium, instrument, instrumentality. Informal, ace in the hole; enough rope.

Verbs — have means, have the power; enable, empower; back, finance, underwrite, capitalize, fund.

Adverbs — by dint or means of, by virtue of, through the medium of, with, per, by all means; wherewith, herewith, therewith, wherewithal, how, in what manner, through, by the instrumentality of, with the aid of, by the agency of, with the help of; by fair means or foul; somehow or other, anyhow, somehow; by hook or [by] crook. Informal, by the seat of one's pants.

Phrases — fight fire with fire; the end justifies the means; give a man enough rope and he will hang himself; if you can't beat 'em, join 'em; the pen is mightier than the sword; set a thief to catch a thief; all roads lead to Rome.

Quotations — The color of the cat doesn't matter as long as it catches the mice (Deng Xiaoping), A little harm done to a great good end (Shakespeare), Whoever wills the end, wills also... the means (Immanuel Kant), If there are obstacles, the shortest line between two points may be the crooked line (Bertolt Brecht), No man is justified in doing evil on the grounds of expediency (Theodore Roosevelt).

Antonyms, see impotence, poverty.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [An instrumentality or instrumentalities]

Syn. machinery, mechanism, agency, organ, channel, medium, factor, agent, auspices, power, organization; see also method 2 , system 2 .

2. [Wealth]

Syn. resources, substance, property; see wealth 2 .

• by all means,

Syn. of course, certainly, yes indeed; see surely , yes .

• by any means,

Syn. in any way, at all, somehow; see anyhow 2 .

• by means of,

Syn. with the aid of, somehow, through; see by 2 .

• by no (manner of) means,

Syn. in no way, not possible, not, definitely not; see never , no .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. way method, resources, modus operandi, system, apparatus, mechanism, power, instrumentation, medium, expedient, agent.

2. money wealth, resources, assets, capital, cash, finances, *bucks, income.