mediocre

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

|Updated on: 21 Aug 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

Their task would be much more difficult against even a mediocre pitching staff. 2.

— sam mellinger, kansascity, "Mellinger Minutes: Whit not an All-Star (?), Jeff Long and KU, Chiefs fears, Odom's crossroads," 10 July 2018
The Canadian endured a mediocre Saturday that saw him qualify on the sixth row.

— jim ayello, Indianapolis Star, "Insider: James Hinchcliffe finds some salvation in Iowa," 8 July 2018
While you and your plebeian friends celebrated Independence Day by firing up a few mediocre hotdogs on the barbecue, J-Rod were busy cozying up to each other on a picturesque beach looking hot as heck (literally and metaphorically speaking).

— ruby buddemeyer, Marie Claire, "Are Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez Engaged? Here Are All the Clues," 6 July 2018
The European Union Chamber of Commerce said in a report last year that mediocre but subsidized companies might flood the market, squeezing out truly innovative Chinese suppliers.

— joe mcdonald, The Christian Science Monitor, "US tariffs could spur tech development in China," 5 July 2018
Hurt strikes a reliably elegiac note in a whiskery supporting role which, as with most of his autumnal work, elevates mediocre material by a few notches.

— stephen dalton, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Damascus Cover': Film Review," 4 July 2018
There, he is used to playing alongside all-time greats such as Andres Iniesta instead of the mediocre talent that populates the defensive half of the Argentine squad.

— joshua robinson, WSJ, "Argentina’s Messi Problem," 25 June 2018
Cleveland’s legendary leader is playing out of his mind in this year’s NBA playoffs, carrying a truly mediocre cast of teammates to the Finals for the fourth straight year.

— al saracevic, San Francisco Chronicle, "LeBron James: One man stands in the Warriors’ way," 30 May 2018
The greatest player in the league strapped this mediocre-to-poor team to his back and has scaled the mountains that are the N.B.A. playoffs, vanquishing one team after another.

— michael powell, New York Times, "You Knew the Warriors Were Coming Back. The Rockets Did, Too.," 29 May 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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