man of means
- noun
- Which it would do if the alleged perpetrator were a hotel maid and the victim a man of means—like yourself.
- man of means
Examples
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Heinrich Ratzlaff, a man of means who settled in Rosenort, Manitoba, wrote that "since I had already been commissioned village mayor in Russia."
Academic text (1992) -
Then you say, "If men of means and vision in St. Louis financed this flight, "it would help to establish our city as a hub "of the national airways of the future."
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People say I'm a man of means.
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Look, I'm a man of means.
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I swear to you, I'm a man of means.
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Many were men of means who signed the Declaration of Independence, knowing that they would face certain death if they were caught.
Blog text (21) -
Wally, however, was quite cordial, as befitted his new status as a man of means.
Fiction book (1993) -
It is thought that Epaphroditus was a man of means and was respected by those in the congregation.
Blog text (31) -
"At the same time, as an experienced man of means with an independent income (this seemed to be the profile that fueled the rumors), he spent a lot of time eating and drinking well.
Blog text (23) -
Alfonso was a man of means, and that's how we got the down payment on the house.
Synonyms
A man who has a lot of money and owns many things
A person who has a lot of money and property
A person who has several million in money or property
A person who has a lot of money and many valuable things
A person who has many billions of dollars
Antonyms
How Wealthy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase directly combines 'man' with 'means' (financial resources) via the simple linking preposition 'of', so a learner who knows the constituents can infer 'a man who has resources/wealth'. This compositional possessive pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows ordinary English noun + of + noun logic, making the expression transparently interpretable at B1.
Etymology
Man of means comes from an older use of the word means, which meant 'resources' or ways to pay for things. So a man of means is a man who has money and property, which is why it means 'to be wealthy'.