I mean

I mean

A segue into an explanation or justification of what one just said. Why don't we just increase taxes on the rich? I mean, there is a budget deficit in the country, but the wealthy are wealthier than ever before.
See also: mean

I mean

(spoken) used to explain or correct what you have just said: I blame the parents. I mean, would you allow a 13-year-old to stay out until 2 o’clock in the morning?
See also: mean
References in classic literature ?
Day and night he is brooding on your wrongs--I should say your rights-- that is to say your wrongs--no, I mean your rights--"("Don't talk no more
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No Vichy jokes intended; what I mean is, he finds it necessary to ``humanize'' the historic inferno by tossing in, of all things, a dopey love triangle between Zaitsev, his communist official best friend Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) and Tania, the last hot babe left standing in Stalingrad, played by Rachel Weisz.
TENSE PLOT OF 'ENEMY' DILUTED BY LOVE TRIANGLE
I's above all in this spirit that I've singled out Midday for these remarks: I mean it to be representative of a particular moment in high Modernism, an optimistic and expansive moment that in one sense is still with us--all the artists just mentioned, except of course Louis, continued to be productive--but in another sense seems almost inconceivably remote.
Anthony Caro: Midday
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