Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of ordinary or undistinguished quality. synonym: average.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of moderate degree or quality; middling; indifferent; ordinary.
- noun One of middling quality, talents, or merit.
- noun A monk between twenty-four and forty years of age, who was excused from the office of the chantry and from reading the epistle and gospel, but performed his duty in choir, cloister, and refectory.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of a middle quality; of but a moderate or low degree of excellence; indifferent; ordinary.
- noun rare A mediocre person; a mediocrity.
- noun A young monk who was excused from performing a portion of a monk's duties.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Ordinary : notextraordinary ; notspecial ,exceptional , orgreat ; ofmedium quality;
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective lacking exceptional quality or ability
- adjective moderate to inferior in quality
- adjective poor to middling in quality
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word mediocre.
Examples
-
I don't like the term mediocre man, because it's personal and insulting, and I'm not addressing that part to anyone.
Obama, Farrakhan, and how Hillary Clinton took the opening and then squandered it. Ann Althouse 2008
-
I'm wouldn't (yet) go so far as to use the term mediocre - they've still got a shot at something, and they do play in the strongest division in baseball - but this year, most of the
Pink Slip 2010
-
What raises all of this above the mediocre is the intimacy and immediacy of the narrative voice .....
Local Girls: Summary and book reviews of Local Girls by Alice Hoffman. 1999
-
He isn't happy with what he calls a "mediocre" 2011 season and wants to make amends.
NYDN Rss HANK GOLA 2012
-
They comped the salad, obvs, but charged him for the sushi, which he described as mediocre
-
Although the official media afford him considerable respect, he is the object of some derision among other Chinese, who lampoon what they call his mediocre performance as a student, his unkempt ways and his prodigious girth; in recent years, his weight has exceeded 220 pounds.
PrairiePundit 2009
-
The GOP's goal is to spin "mediocre" into "blowing away all expectations."
09/19/2004 2004
-
An 89, despite its proximity to 90, results in mediocre interest at best.
Rants 2009
-
What regulation concerning medical care protects the mediocre from the good?
Bell Curve in Medical Care, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
-
Regulation does not protect the mediocre; inability to formally restrain mediocre practice protects them.
Bell Curve in Medical Care, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
bilby commented on the word mediocre
"Pritchard sighed. 'At my age, I have to work harder and harder to have just a mediocre time, Sheriff.'"
- 'The Dark Half', Stephen King.
December 31, 2007
dbekeny commented on the word mediocre
WIZARD
Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a
very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous
creature that crawls on the earth -- or
slinks through slimy seas has a brain!
June 10, 2010