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
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Crashes at Talladega (32nd) and Kansas (37th) and a mediocre finish at Charlotte (21st) have dropped Logano from fourth in points to 10th.
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Buffett Jabs Fund managers elsewhere have already come up against that new reality, after being stung by a mix of mediocre returns, redemptions and critique from heavyweights like Warren Buffett.
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Its data was mediocre to poor, non-existent, wrong.
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Portland has now conceded a mediocre 21 goals in 13 games this season.
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FRENCH CUP Paris St.-Germain ended a mediocre season on a high note by edging Angers, 1-0, to win the French Cup final in suburban Paris.
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PSG, which relinquished its league title to Monaco and was eliminated from the Champions League in the last 16, ended a mediocre campaign on a high note by winning the cup with a scrappy 1-0 win over Angers on Saturday.
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Jobs in industry seem so trivial, the people so mediocre.
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.
Why being halfway up a mountain is 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 from the Middle French, which took it from a Latin word meaning “halfway up a mountain” (mediocris). The noun form of mediocre is mediocrity.
Origin and Etymology of mediocre
Middle French, from Latin mediocris, from medius middle + Old Latin ocris stony mountain; akin to Latin acer sharp — more at edge
MEDIOCRE Defined for English Language Learners
MEDIOCRE Defined for Kids
mediocre
playDefinition of mediocre for Students
: not very good That restaurant is just mediocre.
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See words that rhyme with mediocre Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for mediocre Spanish Central: Translation of mediocre Nglish: Translation of mediocre for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of mediocre for Arabic speakers
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