English

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Etymology

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From Middle French médiocrité, from Latin mediocritās, from mediocris; by surface analysis, mediocre +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /miː.dɪˈɒk.ɹɪ.ti/
  • (US) IPA(key): /mi.dɪˈɑk.ɹɪ.ti/, [mi.dɪˈɑk.ɹɪ.ɾi]

Noun

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mediocrity (countable and uncountable, plural mediocrities)

  1. (uncountable) The condition of being mediocre; having only an average degree of quality, skills etc.; no better than standard.
    Synonym: middlingness
    Coordinate terms: midness (denoting low quality in 21st-century slang); inadequacy, insufficiency, poorness; excellence
    Flexibility is good, but a tolerance for mediocrity carried far enough impairs operational capacity.
    • 2021 March 28, Phil McNulty, “Albania 0-2 England”, in BBC Sport[1]:
      England captain Harry Kane lifted the mediocrity of an attritional first half on a slow surface when he scored his 33rd goal for his country, a superbly guided diving header from Luke Shaw's cross seven minutes before the interval.
  2. (countable) A person with mediocre abilities or achievements.
    populated with mediocrities
    surrounded by mediocrities
  3. (now rare) The quality of being intermediate between two extremes; a mean.
  4. (obsolete) A middle course of action; moderation, balance.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: [], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: [] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
      , New York Review Books 2001, p.273:
      In adversity I wish for prosperity, and in prosperity I am afraid of adversity. What mediocrity may be found?

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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