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Definitions: Mediocre |
MediocreAdjective1. Moderate to inferior in quality; "they improved the quality from mediocre to above average"; "he would make a poor spy". 2. Of no exceptional quality or ability; "a novel of average merit"; "only a fair performance of the sonata"; "in fair health"; "the caliber of the students has gone from mediocre to above average"; "the performance was middling at best". 3. Poor to middling in quality; "there have been good and mediocre and bad artists". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "mediocre" was first used: 1586. (references) |
Synonyms: MediocreSynonyms: average (adj), fair (adj), middling (adj), poor (adj), second-rate (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Imperfection | Indifferent, middling, ordinary, mediocre; average; so-so; coucicouci, milk and water; tolerable, fair, passable; pretty well, pretty good; rather good, moderately good; good; good enough, well enough, adequate; decent; not bad, not amiss; inobjectionable, unobjectionable, admissible, bearable, only better than nothing. |
Mean | Mediocre, middle-class; commonplace; (unimportant). |
Unimportance | Subordinate; (inferior); mediocre; (average); passable, fair, respectable, tolerable, commonplace; uneventful, mere, common; ordinary; (habitual); inconsiderable, so-so, insignificant, inappreciable. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Mediocre |
| English words defined with "mediocre": average ♦ fair ♦ glorify ♦ hack, hack writer ♦ irresolute ♦ limited, literary hack ♦ Mediocral, Mediocrist, middling, modified ♦ poor ♦ second-rate. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "mediocre": CITRULLUS LANATUS, Comet. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Mediocre" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Italian (bush league, indifferent, mean, mediocre, middling, moderate, ordinary, poor, second rate), Spanish (average, bushleague, humdrum, mediocre, moderate, nondescript, poor, undistinguished). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | But we're not mediocre, are we, Miss Parker? (The Pretender; writing credit: Katerina Marinaki) That's a very mediocre commodity. (The Wizard of Oz; writing credit: L. Frank Baum; Noel Langley) | |
Clever | There are too many mediocre things to deal with. Love shouldn't be one of them. (references; author: unknown) | |
Song Titles | Mediocre Fred (performing artist: Smothers Brothers) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Albert Einstein | Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. |
Claude Bernard | Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge. |
Francois | Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding. |
| Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind blows out candles and fans fire. | |
Friedrich Nietzsche | In large states public education will always be mediocre, for the same reason that in large kitchens the cooking is usually bad. |
Isidore Ducasse Lautreamont | The great universal family of men is a utopia worthy of the most mediocre logic. |
Joseph Heller | Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. |
W. Somerset Maugham | Only a mediocre person is always at his best. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Poor or mediocre service often leads to lower sales. (references) | |
However, mass distribution in Italy is still generally viewed as synonymous to mass despecialization, with a risk for high quality products sold in hypermarkets to be identified as mediocre. (references) | ||
Despite diminishing, mediocre returns in many health indicator areas, both the Chinese government and its populace have increased health care spending considerably since the advent of Deng Xiaoping’s 1978 reforms. (references) | ||
Political Economy | Guinea-Bissau | He called the dismissed justices corrupt, mediocre, and liars; however, he did not provide evidence to support these assertions. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Mediocre" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Mediocre" is used about 177 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 177 | 23,322 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "mediocre": in mediocre way. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
el hombre mediocre | 25 |
mediocre | 15 |
el hombre ingenieros jose mediocre | 4 |
el hombre mediocre resumen | 4 |
einstein encounter from great mediocre mind opposition violent | 3 |
de el hombre ingenieros jose mediocre | 3 |
del hombre mediocre resumen | 3 |
hombre mediocre | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "mediocre"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | mesatar (average, mean, measurable, medium, mesial, mid, middling, moderate, neutral, normal, par), mediokër (ordinary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | â€Ù…توسط (age, average, central, intermediary, intermediate, mean, medial, median, medium, middle, middling, moderate, ordinary, pass, poorly), â€Ø¹Ø§Ø¯ÙŠ (average, banal, classless, common, commonplace, conventional, household, lay, mean, medial, middling, mundane, natural, normal, ordinary, plain, plebeian, poor, prosaic, run of the mill, second rate, simple, some, stock, trivial, unexceptional, wont). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | поÑредÑтвен (indifferent, inferior, mean, middling, moderate, ordinary, potty, run of the mill, second rate, tame, tatty, undistinguished). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 平庸. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | podprùmìrný (below the average, subnormal, substandard). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | Ù…ÛŒØ§Ù†ØØ§Ù„ , متوسط (Average, Intermediate, Mean, Medial, Medium, Midway, Normal, Tolerable), وسط (Amid, Amidst, Meddle, Middling, Navel), ØØ¯ÙˆØ³Ø· (Average, Cross, Mean, Mediocrity, Norm, Soso). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | keskinkertainen (medium, moderate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | médiocre, quelconque, piètre (measly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | mittelmäßig (average, indifferent, middling, moderate, undistinguished). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | μÎÏ„Ïιοσ (medium, mezzo, middling, moderate, passable, temperate, unremarkable). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | ממוצע (average, mean), פחות (depreciation, devaluation, diminution, inferior, least, less, meagre, minus, reduction, scanty), ×‘×™× ×•× ×™ (average, fair, intermediate, mean, medial, medium, mid, middle, middling, moderate, par, run of the mill, second rate), רגיל (accustomed, common, habitual, ordinary, par, simple, standard, stock, unexceptional, usual, wont, wonted). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | olyan amilyen (such as it is), közepes (average, fair to middling, mean, medium, middle-class, middling, moderate, so so), középszerű (indifferent, middle, middle-class, slender). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | sedang-sedang (adequate), cukupan (adequate, just enough). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | mediocre (bush league, indifferent, mean, middling, moderate, ordinary, poor, second rate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 平凡 (common, commonplace, ordinary), 凡人 (average person, ordinary person), 凡庸 (banality, commonplace). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ã¼ã‚“ã«ã‚“ (average person, ordinary person), ã¼ã‚“よㆠ(banality, commonplace), ã¼ã‚“ã˜ã‚“ (average person, ordinary person), ã˜ã‚“ã˜ã‚‡ã†ã„ã¡ã‚ˆã† (common, ordinary), ã¸ã„ã¼ã‚“ (common, commonplace, ordinary), ã¸ã„ã¸ã„ã¼ã‚“ã¼ã‚“ãŸã‚‹ (ordinary), ã¸ã„ã¸ã„ã¼ã‚“ã¼ã‚“ (common, ordinary), ã¸ã‚“ã¦ã¤ã‚‚ãªã„ (monotonous, usual), ã¡ã‚…ㆠ(air, annotation, before, comment, companion, explanatory note, explanatory notes, medium, midair, sake, same kind, similar kinds, space). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | í‰ë²”한 (Commonplace, Conventional). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ediocremay medievismo, medÃocre (average, bush league, dissatisfactory, middle sized, Midge, poor, run of the mill, so so, undistinguished, unsatisfactory), vulgar (accepted, artless, banal, blanket, coarse, common, commonplace, demotic, dismal, earthy, everyday, everything, got drunk, gross, hackneycarriage, hacksaw, humdrum, inelaborate, low, low-necked, ordinary, pedestrian crosswalk, penny-a-liner, platitudinous, Plato, prosaic, quotidian, ready made, soulless, trite, trivial, undistinguished, uninspired, unladylike, unoriginal, usual, vulgar, vulgarian). (various references) mediocru (indifferent, middling, moderate, second rate, unpretending), comun (banal, base, common, communal, current, everyday, frequent, general, joint, low, mutual, ordinary, rife, universal, usual, vulgar), banal (banal, cheap, commonplace, daily, dusty, everyday, hackneyed, humdrum, indifferent, indistinctive, insipid, puerile, small, threadbare, trite, trivial, unimaginative). (various references) поÑредÑтвенный (fair, indifferent, mean, ordinary, ornery, second rate). (various references) proseÄan (average), osrednji (indifferent, medium, middling, passable). (various references) mediocre (average, bushleague, humdrum, moderate, nondescript, poor, undistinguished), mediano (average, fair, median, medium, middle, middling, moderate). (various references) medelmÃ¥ttig (indifferent, inferior, medium, middling, second rate, undistinguished). (various references) vasat (everyday, fair, fair average, indifferent, par, undistinguished), sıradan (average, banal, blah, casual, casually, common, common or garden, commonplace, copybook, cut and dried, exoteric, hack, hackneyed, nondescript, ordinary, prosaic, quotidian, regular, routine, run-off-the-mill, small, straight, unexceptional, workaday), orta (bosom, c, center, central, centre, fair, in between, intermediary, intermediate, mean, medial, median, mediate, medium, mesial, mesne, meso-, mezzo-, mid, mid-, middle, middling, midst, moderate, passable, secondary), olaÄŸan (common, commonplace, everyday, mundane, ordinary, regular, run-off-the-mill, usual), alelâde (blah, common, common or garden, common place, commonly, hack, nondescript, ordinary, run-off-the-mill, workaday). (various references) звичайний (accustomed, average, common, common or garden, consuetudinary, conventional, customary, everyday, frequent, homely, natural, normal, ordinary, positive, regulation, rife, run of the mill, uneventful, unexceptional, usual), поÑередній (mean, middling, ordinary, ornery, second rate, undistinguished). (various references) xoà ng (meager, meagre, undistinguished), thưá»ng (banal, habitual, normal, often, oftentimes, ordinary, still, trifling, trivial, unsatisfactory, usual, vulgar). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | mediocris, mediocritatem. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Mediocre" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: mediacre, medicore, medicre, medicro, mediocare, mediocer, mediochre, mediocore, mediocres, mediocrie, mediocure, medioker, medoocre, Medugorje, meritocrat, moidore, Redivorce. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "mediocre" (pronounced mē'dēō"ker) |
| 3 | -ō" k er | broker, croaker, joker, nonsmoker, ochre, poker, smoker, Stoker. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-d-e-e-i-m-o-r" | |
-1 letter: dormice, emeroid. | |
-2 letters: deicer, dermic, dormie, emerod, medico, oreide, recode. | |
-3 letters: ceder, cered, cider, coder, comer, cored, credo, creed, creme, cried, crime, decor, deice, dicer, dimer, domic, eider, erode, medic, merde, micro, mired, moire, riced, rimed. | |
-4 letters: cede, cedi, cere, cero, cire, code, coed, coir, come, cord, core, corm, deco, deem, deer, deme, demo. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-d-e-e-i-m-o-r" | |
+2 letters: echinoderm, entodermic, recombined, recompiled. | |
+3 letters: aeromedical, chemisorbed, comraderies, coredeeming, democracies, democratize, divorcement, echinoderms, encrimsoned, endothermic, eudiometric, microreader, misericorde, misreckoned, misrecorded, overclaimed, recommitted, reconfirmed. | |
+4 letters: aeromedicine, commanderies, commiserated, computerised, computerized, countermined, democratized, democratizer, democratizes, divorcements, hemichordate, immoderacies, improvidence, mediocrities, microreaders, misericordes, overmedicate, predominance, recommending. | |
+5 letters: aeromedicines, commandeering, comprehending, comradeliness, confirmedness, contemporized, copolymerized, decompressing, decompression, democratizers, densitometric, documentaries, dysmenorrheic, hemichordates, improvidences, intercompared, microinjected, monoglyceride, overcommitted, overdominance, overmedicated, overmedicates, predominances, tragicomedies. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4D 65 64 69 6F 63 72 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-- . -.. .. --- -.-. .-. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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| Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "mediocre" |