Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Being within reasonable limits; not excessive or extreme.
- adjective Not violent or subject to extremes; mild or calm; temperate.
- adjective Of medium or average quantity or extent.
- adjective Of limited or average quality; mediocre.
- adjective Opposed to radical or extreme views or measures, especially in politics or religion.
- noun One who holds or champions moderate views or opinions, especially in politics or religion.
- intransitive verb To cause to be less extreme, intense, or violent.
- intransitive verb To preside over.
- intransitive verb To become less extreme, intense, or violent; abate.
- intransitive verb To act as a moderator.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Restrained; temperate; keeping within somewhat restricted limits in action or opinion; avoiding extremes or excess; thinking or acting soberly or temperately: as, to be moderate in all things; a moderate drinker.
- Thinking, speaking, or acting with habitual slowness; very deliberate.
- Of things, limited in extent, amount, or degree; not extreme, excessive, or remarkable; restricted; medium: as, moderate wealth or poverty; a moderate quantity; moderate opinions or ability; moderate weather or exercise.
- Synonyms Moderate, Temperate, reasonable, judicious, mild. When used absolutely, moderate, nearly always refers to a person's temper or opinions, whereas temperate similarly used generally refers to a person's habits in respect to bodily indulgence: a moderate man is one who is not extreme in his views or violent in his sentiments; a temperate man, one who is not addicted to over-indulgence either in eating or in drinking.
- noun One who is moderate in opinion or action; one who is opposed to extreme views or courses, especially in politics or religion.
- To reduce the amount or intensity of; lessen; reduce; restrain; specifically, to reduce from a large amount or great degree to a medium quantity or intensity: as, to
moderate the heat of a room; to moderate one's anger, ardor, or passions. - To decide as a moderator; judge.
- Synonyms To mitigate, abate, appease, pacify, quiet, assuage, soothe, soften.
- To become less violent, severe, rigorous, or intense: as, the storm begins to moderate.
- To preside as a moderator, as at a meeting.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To become less violent, severe, rigorous, or intense.
- intransitive verb To preside as a moderator.
- transitive verb To restrain from excess of any kind; to reduce from a state of violence, intensity, or excess; to keep within bounds; to make temperate; to lessen; to allay; to repress; to temper; to qualify
- transitive verb To preside over, direct, or regulate, as a public meeting or a discussion.
- noun (Eccl. Hist.) One of a party in the Church of Scotland in the 18th century, and part of the 19th, professing moderation in matters of church government, in discipline, and in doctrine.
- adjective Limited in quantity; sparing; temperate; frugal.
- adjective Limited in degree of activity, energy, or excitement; reasonable; calm; slow
- adjective Not extreme in opinion, in partisanship, and the like.
- adjective Not violent or rigorous; temperate; mild; gentle.
- adjective Limited as to degree of progress.
- adjective Limited as to the degree in which a quality, principle, or faculty appears.
- adjective Limited in scope or effects.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Not
excessive ; acting inmoderation - adjective
Mediocre - adjective Average priced; standard-deal
- adjective US, politics Having an intermediate position between
liberal andconservative . - noun politics One who holds an
intermediate position between the extremes relevant in a political context - noun Similar middle-grounder in any other context.
- verb transitive To reduce the
excessiveness of (something) - verb intransitive To become less excessive
- verb transitive To preside over (something) as a
moderator - verb intransitive To act as a
moderator ; to assist in bringing tocompromise
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective being within reasonable or average limits; not excessive or extreme
- adjective not extreme
- verb lessen the intensity of; temper; hold in restraint; hold or keep within limits
- verb make less fast or intense
- adjective marked by avoidance of extravagance or extremes
- verb preside over
- verb make less strong or intense; soften
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The language of everyday conversation, when not marked by intensity of feeling or purpose, requires only a moderate amount of physical and mental energy and is expressed by _moderate force_.
The Ontario High School Reader A.E. Marty
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Whatever it may do in this way, in men, in women it is sure, unless prevented by age or by salutary ugliness, to produce a moderate, and a _very moderate_, portion of chastity.
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Optimists say it need not be a reprise of Iran; that it could look more like Turkey; that the term "moderate Islamist" isn't an oxymoron, at least in a relative sense.
Why Islamists Are Winning Bret Stephens 2011
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Clearly, the use of the term moderate here is meant as a compliment.
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The term moderate is all relative; a winner needs to be close to where the electorate see themselves.
Smoking Guns and the Morality of Parliamentary Privilege 2009
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The term moderate Muslims may include those who aren't religiously observant, and thus offend those Muslims who are.
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Many devout Muslims dislike the term moderate, too, saying it suggests deviation from the tenets of the Quran.
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"I would use the term moderate more for the weather than Islam," said Ayaan Hirsi Ali,
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And it's why the term moderate is meaningless when applied to Muslims in the West.
The Jawa Report Rusty 2010
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In March 2005, when Mathias received an award from the Maryland Sen.te, state archivist Edward Papenfuse told the Sen.te that as a Republican in a Democratic state, "Sen. Mathias wore the label moderate Republican with pride and to great effect."
chained_bear commented on the word moderate
Lesser-Known Slogans of Political Moderates.
August 26, 2008
oroboros commented on the word moderate
We need a moderate to moderate.
January 3, 2010