Mediation

How to spell mediation

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce mediation

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mediation mean?

1. nounThe process in which a neutral third party helps two sides in a dispute reach a voluntary agreement.

Mediation in a sentence

• The divorcing couple chose mediation rather than a costly court battle.

• The union agreed to mediation after talks with management broke down.

Where does mediation come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Mediation traces back to the Latin verb mediare, meaning 'to be in the middle' or 'to divide in two', which was itself built on the adjective medius, simply meaning 'middle' or 'midway'. Late Latin produced the noun mediatio for the act of standing between two parties, and this passed into English through Old French during the late 1300s, at first carrying religious overtones of acting as a go-between or intercessor. Over the centuries the sense broadened from spiritual intercession to the modern legal and workplace idea of an impartial third party helping opponents reach agreement. The same medius root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'medium', 'median', and 'intermediate', all of which point back to that idea of the middle ground. Remembering that 'middle' connection is a handy guard for the spelling, since the word keeps the single 'd' and the 'medi-' opening rather than any doubled letter.

How the word is built

• medi- (from Latin medius: middle)
• -ate (verb-forming)
• -ion (noun of action)