mediocre

adjective me·di·o·cre \ ˌmē-dē-ˈō-kər \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Examples: mediocre in a Sentence

Editor's Note: The Enduring Moderation of mediocre

Definition of mediocre

: of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance : ordinary, so-so

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Examples of mediocre in a Sentence

They sensed that mediocre students like Roosevelt really did possess a set of virtues that needed to be protected and cherished. —David Brooks, New York Times Book Review, 6 Nov. 2005
Of course, it could be that what Wesley has been through steeled his nerves and transformed him from a mediocre point guard into one of the fiercest shooters in the league with the game on the line. —Chad Millman, ESPN, 14 May 2001
In short, they'd have to build a first-rate health-care system out of the shantytown's mediocre one—a system that would administer those drugs reliably and keep the patients' spirits up, because the second-line drugs are weak and have unpleasant side effects, which a patient has to endure for as much as two years. —Tracy Kidder, New Yorker, 10 July 2000
The dinner was delicious, but the dessert was mediocre.
The carpenter did a mediocre job.
The critics dismissed him as a mediocre actor.

Recent Examples of mediocre from the Web

Also, in the five years that the Pads won the West, the division was either mediocre or served up a dog’s breakfast.

— tom krasovic, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Three NL West rivals still on track to soften in Padres' target year of 2020," 25 May 2018
But Anon, sadly, is not even mediocre and Owen is lost in it.

— taylor antrim, Vogue, "Which (If Any) of These New Netflix Original Movies Should You Watch?," 23 May 2018
That’s a major selling point in an era where boring, mediocre retail is dead or dying.

— beth kowitt, Fortune, "How Amazon Is Using Whole Foods in a Bid for Total Retail Domination," 21 May 2018
Batshuayi became a rare bright spark in a mediocre season for Borussia Dortmund after joining on loan from the Blues in January and BVB had been hoping to make the Belgian's transfer permanent.

— SI.com, "Chelsea Unwilling to Sell Michy Batshuayi to Dortmund But Could Offer Alternative Forward," 18 May 2018
Boston Red Sox — Rick Porcello had seven mostly mediocre seasons before winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2016.

— casey l moore, USA TODAY, "Biggest surprises -- good or bad -- one month into MLB season," 30 Apr. 2018
Based on statistics alone, Deer Park’s greatest need on the offensive side of the ball will be to revamp the running game that ranked a mediocre sixth last season among the district teams.

— robert avery, Houston Chronicle, "Flynn ready to tackle his first spring football practice," 23 Apr. 2018
Batum, completing his third season as a Hornet, had a mediocre-to-poor season statistically.

— rick bonnell, charlotteobserver, "Hornets' highest-paid players rarely clicked on court. Can they fix this problem? | Charlotte Observer," 11 Apr. 2018
Quin said in late December, days before the Lions finished their mediocre season with a win over the Green Bay Packers.

— dave birkett, Detroit Free Press, "Ranking 2018 NFC contenders: How do Detroit Lions stack up?," 30 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mediocre.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Enduring Moderation of mediocre

One of the things that is remarkable about mediocre is the extent to which it has retained its meaning over the course of more than four centuries of continual use. The word, when used as an adjective, has changed very little, if at all, in its meaning since it was used in a 1586 book titled The English Secretorie (our earliest known evidence): “Mediocre, a meane betwixt high and low, vehement and slender, too much and too little as we saye. . . .” The word comes to English via Middle French from the Latin word mediocris, meaning "of medium size, moderate, middling, commonplace," and perhaps originally "halfway to the top." The noun form of mediocre is mediocrity.

Origin and Etymology of mediocre

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, borrowed from Latin mediocris "of medium size, moderate, middling, commonplace," perhaps originally "halfway to the top," from medius "middle, central" + -ocris, adjective derivative from the base of Old Latin ocris "rugged mountain," going back to Indo-European *h₂oḱ-r-i- "point, peak, edge" (whence also Umbrian ukar, ocar "citadel," Middle Irish ochair "edge, border," Welsh ochr, Greek ókris "top, point, corner"), derivative of *h₂eḱ- "pointed" — more at ¹mid, ¹edge

Note: The base *h₂oḱ-r-i- forms a pair with *h₂eḱ-r- "sharp, pointed" (see acro-) and the two have been explained as part of an original "acrostatic" paradigm of a noun, with fixed stress on the root, o-vocalism in the direct cases and e-vocalism in the oblique cases, with Indo-European daughter languages generalizing one form or another. Note that Greek has both ókris, as above, and ákris "hilltop, mountain peak." Perhaps also belonging here is Sanskrit aśri- "corner, angle, edge" (see at acro-), where the vowel may be either *a or *o.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1586

in the meaning defined above

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