ways and means

plural noun

1

: methods and resources for accomplishing something and especially for defraying expenses

2

often capitalized W&M

a

: methods and resources for raising the necessary revenues for the expenses of a nation or state

b

: a legislative committee concerned with this function

Examples of ways and means in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Her mentor in seeing the story beneath the surface of things is her scholarly father, Ron (Zach Galifianakis), whose enforced idleness in the wake of a car accident and subsequent abuse of painkillers seem to have fostered an outsider’s skepticism about the ways and means of business as usual. —Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2024

The mass of men has now been entrusted with political power; and the governments of the modern state must discover ways and means of translating the will of an electorate . . . —Foreign Affairs, 18 Dec. 2011

The council returned three ordinances seeking appropriations of ARPA funds seeking to hire an ARPA manager, fund a joint broadband infrastructure project, and establish a leadership and job training development program, to the ways and means committee without discussion. —Carrie Napoleon, chicagotribune.com, 23 Dec. 2021

The year the Jamaica Plain Democrat served on the ways and means panel, both the House and Senate’s Ways and Means Committees and the Health Care Financing Committee held a large joint hearing on changes to MassHealth, a public event that filled the State House’s 600-seat Gardner Auditorium. —Samantha J. Gross, BostonGlobe.com, 25 July 2023

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Legal Definition

ways and means

noun plural

1

: methods and resources for raising the necessary revenues for the expenses of a nation or state

2

often capitalized W&M : a legislative committee with jurisdiction over ways and means