me·di·o·cre

(mē′dē-ō′kər)

adj.

Of ordinary or undistinguished quality. See Synonyms at average.

[French médiocre, from Latin mediocris : medius, middle; see medhyo- in Indo-European roots + ocris, a rugged mountain; see ak- in Indo-European roots.]

Word History: Belying the very meaning of the word, the adjective mediocre has a remarkable and unexpected etymology. Mediocre ultimately comes from Latin mediocris, which meant "middling, ordinary, unremarkable." The Latin word in turn is a compound based on a rather concrete metaphor—we often find that abstract words are rooted in vivid comparisons when we trace the history of words back till we hit bedrock. In this case, the bedrock is a Latin word for "mountain." Mediocris is a compound of the adjective medius, "half" or "in the middle," and ocris, "rugged mountain." Something that is mediocre is only midway up a mountain or rises up to only half a mountain's height, as it were—the thing goes just halfway to the highest point of excellence. The resemblance between the Latin word medius and English words like middle and midway is no accident. They are all ultimately descended from the Proto-Indo-European word *medhyo-, "middle."

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mediocre

(ˌmiːdɪˈəʊkə; ˈmiːdɪˌəʊkə)

adj

often derogatory average or ordinary in quality: a mediocre book.

[C16: via French from Latin mediocris moderate, literally: halfway up the mountain, from medius middle + ocris stony mountain]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

me•di•o•cre

(ˌmi diˈoʊ kər)

adj.

of only ordinary or moderate quality; barely adequate.

[1580–90; < Middle French < Latin mediocris in a middle state, literally, at middle height =medi(us) mid¹ + Old Latin ocris rugged mountain]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	mediocre - moderate to inferior in quality; "they improved the quality from mediocre to above average" second-rate inferior - of low or inferior quality
	2.	mediocre - lacking 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" middling, average, fair ordinary - not exceptional in any way especially in quality or ability or size or degree; "ordinary everyday objects"; "ordinary decency"; "an ordinary day"; "an ordinary wine"
	3.	mediocre - poor to middling in quality; "there have been good and mediocre and bad artists" bad - having undesirable or negative qualities; "a bad report card"; "his sloppy appearance made a bad impression"; "a bad little boy"; "clothes in bad shape"; "a bad cut"; "bad luck"; "the news was very bad"; "the reviews were bad"; "the pay is bad"; "it was a bad light for reading"; "the movie was a bad choice"

mediocre

adjective second-rate, average, ordinary, indifferent, middling, pedestrian, inferior, commonplace, vanilla (slang), insignificant, so-so (informal), banal, tolerable, run-of-the-mill, passable, undistinguished, uninspired, bog-standard (Brit. & Irish slang), no great shakes (informal), half-pie (N.Z. informal), fair to middling (informal) His university record was mediocre.
excellent, extraordinary, superb, distinguished, superior, distinctive, unrivalled, incomparable, unsurpassed, unexcelled

Quotations
"Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major it had been all three" [Joseph Heller Catch-22]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

mediocre

adjective

1. Being of no special quality or type:

average, common, commonplace, cut-and-dried, formulaic, garden, garden-variety, indifferent, ordinary, plain, routine, run-of-the-mill, standard, stock, undistinguished, unexceptional, unremarkable.

2. Of low or lower quality:

common, inferior, low-grade, low-quality, mean, second-class, second-rate, shabby, substandard.

Translations

مُعْتَدِل، وَسَط، عادي

prostřední

middelmådig

medioker mittelmäßig niveaulos

μέτριος

mediocre

médiocre

középszerû

miîlungs-, meîallags-

mediocre mediocrit...

pusėtinasvidutiniškumasvidutinybė

viduvējs

povprečen

mediocre

[ˌmiːdɪˈəʊkəʳ] ADJ → mediocre

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

mediocre

[ˌmiːdiˈəʊkə^r] adj → médiocre

mediocre

adj → mittelmäßig

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

mediocre

[ˌmiːdɪˈəʊkəʳ] adj → mediocre

mediocre

(miːdiˈoukə) adjective

not very good or great; ordinary. a mediocre performance/effort.

ˌmediˈocrity (-ˈo-) noun