moderate

adjective mod·er·ate \ ˈmä-d(ə-)rət \

Definition of moderate

1 a :avoiding extremes of behavior or expression :observing reasonable limits

a moderate drinker

b :calm, temperate

Though very much in favor of the measure, he expressed himself in moderate language.

2 a :tending toward the mean or average amount or dimension

a family of moderate income

b :having average or less than average quality :mediocre

wrote moderate poetry to the end of his life
—Carl Van Doren

3 :not violent, severe, or intense

a moderate climate

moderate winters

cook over moderate heat

4 :professing or characterized by political or social beliefs that are not extreme

had left-wing, moderate, and right-wing candidates vying for the nomination

5 :limited in scope or effect

His new wealth had only a moderate effect on his way of life.

6 :not expensive :reasonable or low in price

a moderate price for a new house

7 of a color :of medium lightness and medium chroma

a moderate red

—

moderately

adverb

—

moderateness

noun

See moderate defined for English-language learners

See moderate defined for kids

Examples of moderate in a Sentence

Her doctor recommended moderate exercise.
There were moderate levels of chemicals in the lake.
drinking moderate amounts of coffee
Most of these medicines relieve mild to moderate pain.
a family of moderate income
a book of moderate length
The group met with only moderate success.
a writer of moderate talent
The hotel offers comfortable rooms at moderate prices.
Both moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans can agree on this new law.

Recent Examples of moderate from the Web

Exit polls found that 55 percent of people who voted in the West Virginia Democratic primary identified as either conservative or moderate.

— clare foran, The Atlantic, "What Joe Manchin Can Teach Democrats," 26 Aug. 2017
This spring, House Democrats, under Ward’s direction, partnered with moderate Republicans to roll back much of Brownback’s signature 2012 tax cuts.

— bryan lowry and jonathan shorman, kansascity, "Kansas lawmaker with ‘street fighter reputation’ launches campaign for governor," 19 Aug. 2017
What really scares me are the rest of Trump's voters, the other Republicans, the moderate right.

— shannon martinez, Marie Claire, "A Former White Supremacist Condemns Trump: "He Is the Leader They've Been Waiting For"," 17 Aug. 2017
Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, urged him to take a more moderate stance, according to two people familiar with the situation.

— caroline hallemann, Town & Country, "Where Were Jared and Ivanka During Trump's Statements on Charlottesville?," 16 Aug. 2017
The 2015 vintage did not taste like my true love—and that’s because 2015 was an unwaveringly warm year in Beaujolais, with heat waves and moderate evenings, creating riper, bigger wines.

— marissa a. ross, Bon Appetit, "Should You Care About a Wine’s Vintage?," 10 Aug. 2017
Yglesias is right in that Sanders is incredibly popular, is learning to moderate, and is continuing to outline a message that resonates with millions.

— michael arceneaux, Essence.com, "Sen. Kamala Harris May Be A Freshman, But Don't Tell Her To Wait Her Turn In 2020," 24 July 2017
BOTOX® Cosmetic is a prescription medicine that is injected into muscles and used to temporarily improve the look of both moderate to severe crow's feet lines and frown lines between the eyebrows in adults.

— richard lawson, HWD, "Gorgeous, Gripping Dunkirk Is This Summer’s Most Surprising Movie," 20 July 2017
Heather Kid Cadet Reicher, who will moderate panel discussions throughout Florida Supercon, will serve as ring announcer for FSCW.

— jim varsallone, miamiherald, "Blue Pants, Cage, WWE alums, legends, FSCW at Florida Supercon," 19 July 2017

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

Origin and Etymology of moderate

Middle English, from Latin moderatus, from past participle of moderare to moderate; akin to Latin modus measure

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

moderate Synonyms

Synonyms

temperate

Antonyms

immoderate, intemperate

Near Antonyms

excessive, extreme, inordinate, radical; irrational, unreasonable, unreasoning; extremist, fanatic (or fanatical), rabid; unbridled, unchecked, uncontrolled, unrestrained

moderate

verb mod·er·ate \ ˈmä-də-ˌrāt \

Definition of moderate

moderated; moderating

transitive verb

1 :to lessen the intensity or extremeness of

the sun moderated the chill

2 :to preside over or act as chairman of

moderated the board of directors meeting

moderated the debate

intransitive verb

1 :to act as a moderator

He moderated on a weekly panel show.

2 :to become less violent, severe, or intense

the wind began to moderate

—

moderation

play \ˌmä-də-ˈrā-shən\ noun

See moderate defined for English-language learners

Examples of moderate in a Sentence

The protesters have been unwilling to moderate their demands.
She moderates at our office meetings.
She moderates our discussions so that we don't argue or talk at the same time.

Recent Examples of moderate from the Web

Peter Albrecht will moderate the debate, which will be broadcast live and streamed online.

— michelle matthews | mmatthews@al.com, AL.com, "Things to do in Mobile, Aug. 13-19," 13 Aug. 2017
The talk was moderated by Jessica Bennett, author of Feminist Fight Club, and the panelists were Soraya Chemaly, director of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project, and Heather Arnet, CEO of the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest PA.

— shay maunz, Glamour, "Is it Cool For Companies to Use Feminism to Get Us to Shop?," 8 Aug. 2017
Curators will moderate an artist talk on August 25.

— chloe fein, The Cut, "What’s in a Face?," 2 Aug. 2017
For the study, researchers compared how well 42 older adults with mild to moderate hearing loss repeated sentences spoken in the presence of background noise.

— michelle andrews, Kaiser Health News, "Over-The-Counter Devices Hold Their Own Against Costly Hearing Aids," 25 July 2017
This year's event took place at 3015 at Trinity Groves and was moderated by John Rhadigan from Fox Sports Southwest.

— jay betsill, star-telegram, "DFW sports play-by-play announcers team up for ‘Talk of the Town’," 16 July 2017
Disqus is a discussion network Disqus never moderates or censors.

— jonathan tannenwald, Philly.com, "CONCACAF Gold Cup: Costa Rica wins Group A, Canada second," 15 July 2017
Belton school board president Jerry Miller moderated the session.

— kansascity, kansascity.com, "Cass County Kids First offers legislators news from the front line," 15 June 2017
Fede hosted the forum and Brooke Katz of WCNC and Courtney Francisco of WCCB moderated.

— jamie gwaltney, charlotteobserver, "Only millennial City Council candidates were young enough to speak at this forum," 7 June 2017

Origin and Etymology of moderate

see ¹moderate

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

moderate Synonyms

Synonyms

abate, decline, de-escalate, die (away or down or out), diminish, drain (away), drop (off), dwindle, ease, ebb, fall, fall away, lessen, let up, lower, decrease, pall, phase down, ratchet (down) also rachet (down), recede, relent, remit, shrink, subside, taper, taper off, wane

Antonyms

accumulate, balloon, build, burgeon (also bourgeon), enlarge, escalate, expand, grow, increase, intensify, mount, mushroom, pick up, rise, snowball, soar, swell, wax

Related Words

compress, condense, constrict, contract; evaporate, fade (away), fritter (away), give out, melt (away), peter (out), tail (off), vanish; slacken, slow (down); alleviate, relax; flag, sink, weaken; cave (in), collapse, deflate

Near Antonyms

appear, emerge, show up; blow up, distend, elongate, lengthen

moderate

noun mod·er·ate \ ˈmä-d(ə-)rət \

Definition of moderate

:one who holds moderate views or who belongs to a group favoring a moderate course or program

See moderate defined for English-language learners

Examples of moderate in a Sentence

Moderates from both political parties have agreed on an economic plan.
to the community's detriment, moderates were often shouted down at town meetings by the local hotheads

Recent Examples of moderate from the Web

Four of the five representatives in the past 50 years have been Republicans, but the district was centrist enough for GOP moderates and Democrats to elect Democrat Dennis Moore for 12 years before Yoder captured the seat in 2010.

— john hanna, The Seattle Times, "Kansas congressman in district Trump lost faces town hall," 22 Aug. 2017
But a new study has some reassuring news for people who enjoy a daily drink or two: Moderate drinking is associated with healthy brain function in old age, according to a new study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

— amanda macmillan, Health.com, "The Surprising Link Between Your Nightly Wine Habit and a Better Memory," 2 Aug. 2017
Several Republican lawmakers have criticized the ban (which, by the way, is unconstitutional), but only one signed Gillibrand’s letter: moderate Susan Collins.

— claire landsbaum, The Cut, "Almost 50 Senators Urge Defense Secretary Not to Implement Ban on Transgender Troops," 28 July 2017
On Tuesday afternoon, Senate Republicans voted on a motion to proceed with debate on healthcare legislation, using a rare legislative gambit to move ahead despite reservations from some moderates.

— alana abramson, PEOPLE.com, "The Senate Just Voted to Start Debating Health Care. Here’s What Happens Next.," 25 July 2017
See What Moderate to Severe HS Can Look Like Before and After Treatment.

— SI.com, "Wantaway Southampton Star Left Out of Saints' Pre-Season Training Camp in France," 21 July 2017
Those policy shifts have earned cheers from moderates and even some accolades from Democrats.

— tony cook, Indianapolis Star, "Poll: Gov. Eric Holcomb still relatively unknown to Indiana voters," 20 July 2017
Moderates were always skittish about the drastic Medicaid cuts opposed by many of their governors.

— author: sean sullivan, robert costa, kelsey snell, Alaska Dispatch News, "‘It’s an insane process’: How the health-care bill failed," 19 July 2017
Members of the conservative Freedom Caucus have been pushing for more cuts, and moderates are raising concerns over the $200 billion in mandatory spending reductions.

— priscilla alvarez, The Atlantic, "House GOP Budget Plan Cuts Medicare and Social Security," 18 July 2017

Origin and Etymology of moderate

see ¹moderate

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1648

See Words from the same year

moderate Synonyms

Synonyms

middle-of-the-roader, centrist

Antonyms

extremist, radical, revolutionary, revolutionist, ultraist

Related Words

progressive, reformer; accommodationist, compromiser

Near Antonyms

conservative, reactionary, rightist, right-winger; leftist, left-winger, liberal

MODERATE Defined for Kids

moderate

adjective mod·er·ate \ ˈmä-də-rət \

Definition of moderate for Students

1 :neither too much nor too little

moderate heat

2 :neither very good nor very bad

moderate success

3 :not expensive :reasonable

moderate rates

4 :not extreme or excessive

a moderate point of view

a moderate eater

—

moderately

adverb

moderate

verb mod·er·ate \ ˈmä-də-ˌrāt \

Definition of moderate for Students

moderated; moderating

:to make or become less extreme or severe

Medical Dictionary

moderate

adjective mod·er·ate \ ˈmäd-(ə-)rət \

medical Definition of moderate

1 :avoiding extremes of behavior :observing reasonable limits

a moderate drinker

2 :not severe in effect or degree

moderate alcohol consumption

the abdomen was mildly distended with moderate tenderness
—Timothy Melester et al

moderate developmental disabilities

moderate

transitive verb mod·er·ate \ ˈmäd-ə-ˌrāt \

medical Definition of moderate

moderated; moderating

:to reduce the speed or energy of (neutrons)

—

moderation

play \ˌmäd-ə-ˈrā-shən\ noun

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