Acceptable
Acceptable adjective - Of a level of quality that meets one's needs or standards.
Usage example: told the bike rental man that a ten-speed with four broken gears was not acceptable
Mean is an antonym for acceptable.
Mean
Mean adjective - Of little or less value or merit.
Usage example: it's no mean feat to memorize that long poem
Acceptable is an antonym for mean.
Both words in one sentence
- Ron the Death Eater: Have an acceptable reason for making a truly good character suddenly be mean.
Source: Bad Writing Index - The everyday inflection would be acceptable, but it's too easy to say it with the inflection that makes it mean "brother" in the familial sense — or the one that makes it mean "same-sex lover".
Source: Fun with Foreign Languages -
This can vary by a lot from year to year, from culture to culture, from subculture to subculture, and so on: If a group is listed here, it does not mean that the group is universally considered an acceptable target, and it most definitely doesn't mean that the group should be targeted.
Source: Acceptable Targets
Cite this Source
Mean and Acceptable. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 07, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/acceptable/mean
Acceptable & Mean. N.p., 2016. Web. 07 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/acceptable/mean>.
Mean or Acceptable. 2016. Accessed August 07, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/acceptable/mean.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "acceptable" and "mean" have occurred on timeline