mediocre

See also: médiocre and medíocre

English

Alternative forms

• mediocer (obsolete)
• médiocre (dated)

Etymology

From the late Middle English medioker, from the French médiocre, from the Middle French médiocre, from the Classical Latin mediocris (“in a middle state”, “of middle size”, “middling”, “moderate”, “ordinary”, from medius (“middle”) +‎ ocris (“rugged mountain”)); compare mediocrely and mediocrity.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌmiːdɪˈəʊkə/, /ˈmiːdɪˌəʊkə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌmidiˈoʊkəɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

mediocre (comparative more mediocre, superlative most mediocre)

1. Not excellent or outstanding, usually disappointingly so.

   Synonyms: common, commonplace, ordinary

   Antonyms: great, distinguished, exceptional, outstanding, remarkable, peculiar, excellent

   I'm pretty good at tennis but only mediocre at racquetball.

   • 1968, William Arthur Ward, Thoughts of a Christian Optimist‎^[1], Droke House:

     The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.

   • 2023 August 24, Sarah Naftalis & Lauren Wells, “The Roast” (8:36 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows‎^[2], season 5, episode 8, spoken by Baron Afanas (Doug Jones):

     “Look at this festive assembly. All of us, gathered here together, chuckling at jokes and silliness.” [laughter] “And jackanapery.” [rim shots] “I guess there's only one thing left to say. What is this shit?” [rim shot] [laughter] “[laughs] Very good.” “You call yourselves vampires? Bah. This entire evening has been nothing but a pageant of insipid nonsense.” “[laughing] Yes.” “Worshipping at the altar of your own mediocre frivolity. A jester's hollow dance. And who is laughing?” “Yeah! [whoops] [grunts]” “Vampires are supposed to have blood orgies and slaughter circles. Gah! You have all gone soft. You even invited humans to this asinine affair.”

Related terms

• mean
• median
• mediate
• mediation
• mediator
• mediocrely
• mediocrity
• medium

Translations

having no peculiar or outstanding features

• Arabic: مُتَوَسِّط (mutawassiṭ)
• Belarusian: пасрэ́дны (pasrédny), сярэ́дні (be) (sjarédni)
• Bulgarian: посре́дствен (bg) (posrédstven)
• Catalan: mediocre (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 平庸 (zh) (píngyōng), 平凡 (zh) (píngfán), 平平 (zh) (píngpíng), 庸碌 (zh) (yōnglù)

• Czech: průměrný (cs)
• Danish: middelmådig (da)
• Dutch: middelmatig (nl)
• Esperanto: mezbona, mezklalita, averaĝa
• Finnish: keskinkertainen (fi), kohtalainen (fi), keskiverto (fi), (in a negative sense) hääppöinen (fi)
• French: médiocre (fr)
• Galician: mediocre (gl) m or f, nin arre nin xo
• German: mittelmäßig (de)
• Greek: μέτριος (el) m (métrios), (colloquial) παρακατιανός (el) m (parakatianós)
• Hindi: मध्यम (hi) (madhyam), दरमियानी (hi) (darmiyānī), बीच का (bīc kā), बीच की रास (bīc kī rās), मुतवस्सित (hi) (mutvassit), बैन-बैन (bain-bain), दरमियाना (darmiyānā), औसत दर्जे का (ausat darje kā), मोतदिल (hi) (motdil), माध्यमिक (hi) (mādhyamik), औसत (hi) (ausat)
• Hungarian: középszerű (hu), közepes (hu)
• Icelandic: ^{(please verify)} miðlungs- , ^{(please verify)} meðallags-
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} Biasa Saja
• Italian: mediocre (it)
• Japanese: 凡庸な (ja) (bon'yō na), 平凡な (ja) (heibon na)
• Korean: 평범하다 (ko) (pyeongbeomhada)
• Latin: mediocris (la)
• Macedonian: сре́ден m (sréden), про́сечен m (prósečen)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: middelmådig

  Nynorsk: middelmåtig

• Persian: کم‌مایه (kam-mâye)
• Polish: średni (pl), mierny (pl), przeciętny (pl), niespecjalny
• Portuguese: medíocre (pt), meia-boca (pt) (informal)
• Romanian: mediocru (ro)
• Russian: посре́дственный (ru) (posrédstvennyj), зауря́дный (ru) (zaurjádnyj), сре́дний (ru) (srédnij), нева́жный (ru) (nevážnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: осредњи

  Latin: osrednji (sh)

• Slovak: priemerný, prostredný
• Spanish: mediocre (es)
• Swedish: medelmåttig (sv)
• Tagalog: madampat
• Turkish: vasat (tr), sıradan (tr)
• Ukrainian: посере́дній (poserédnij), аби́який (uk) (abýjakyj), сере́дній (serédnij)

Noun

mediocre (plural mediocres)

1. A person of minor significance, accomplishment or acclaim; a common and undistinguished person.

   Antonym: great

   • 1825, “Present State of Literature”, in The Gentleman's Magazine‎^[3], volume XCV, second part, page 197:

     Of the hundreds of inferior poets, who are continually offering their sonnets and addresses to the Moon, (or to the public instead of that luminary,) Wade, Barton, Wiffen, and Bailey, are the most conspicuous. Wade is a new aspirant, but gives strong prognostications of genius. Barton and Bailey are above the mediocres, and Wiffen tolerable.

   • 2014, Todd Whitaker, Dealing with Difficult Teachers, Third Edition, page 84:

     After this lecture, how do the mediocres feel? They probably feel indifferent or mad. Perhaps they were not even paying attention. The question is, are they more likely to be in the hallway tomorrow? Probably not.

2. (historical) A member of a socioeconomic class between the upper ranks of society and the agricultural workers.

Translations

person of minor significance, accomplishment or acclaim

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 庸人 (zh) (yōngrén)

• French: médiocre (fr)
• German: Mittelmäßige
• Greek: μετριότητα (el) f (metriótita)
• Japanese: 庸人 (ja) (yōjin), 凡人 (ja) (bonjin)

Further reading

• “mediocre”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “mediocre”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• mediocer

Catalan

Adjective

mediocre m or f (masculine and feminine plural mediocres)

1. mediocre

Derived terms

• mediocrement

Related terms

• mediocritat

Further reading

• “mediocre” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meˈdjɔ.kre/
• Rhymes: -ɔkre
• Hyphenation: me‧diò‧cre

Adjective

mediocre (plural mediocri)

1. mediocre, ordinary, middling

   Synonyms: comune, ordinario

2. second-rate, poor, shoddy

   Synonyms: scadente, scarso

Noun

mediocre m or f by sense (plural mediocri)

1. mediocre person; mediocrity

Related terms

• medio
• mediocremente
• mediocrità

Anagrams

• decimerò

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /meˈdi.o.kre/, [mɛˈd̪iɔkrɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /meˈdi.o.kre/, [meˈd̪iːokre]

Adjective

mediocre

1. nominative/accusative neuter singular of mediocris

Portuguese

Adjective

mediocre m or f (plural mediocres)

1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of medíocre.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mediocris.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meˈdjokɾe/ [meˈð̞jo.kɾe]
• Rhymes: -okɾe
• Syllabification: me‧dio‧cre

Adjective

mediocre m or f (masculine and feminine plural mediocres)

1. mediocre

   Synonyms: cutre, normalito, poca cosa, regular

Related terms

• mediocremente
• mediocridad

Further reading

• “mediocre”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10