mediocrity
/miː.dɪˈɒk.ɹɪ.ti/US/mi.dɪˈɑk.ɹɪ.ti/
mediocrity noun: the condition of being mediocre; having only an average degree of quality, skills etc.; no better than standard.
Noun
mediocrity (countable and uncountable, plural mediocrities)
- The condition of being mediocre; having only an average degree of quality, skills etc.; no better than standard.
- Flexibility is good, but a tolerance for mediocrity carried far enough impairs operational capacity.
- 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.2021 March 28, Phil McNulty, “Albania 0-2 England”, in BBC Sport
- Synonyms:
- middlingness
- A person with mediocre abilities or achievements.
- populated with mediocrities
- surrounded by mediocrities
- The quality of being intermediate between two extremes; a mean.
- A middle course of action; moderation, balance.
- Sundrie other Gent[lemen] reſt beholden to this hundred, for their dvvellings, vvho, in an enuiable mediocritie of fortune, do happilie poſſeſſe themſelues, and communicate their ſufficient means to the ſeruice of their prince, the good of their neighbours, and the bettering of their ovvn eſtate...1609, Richard Carew, “The Second Booke”, in The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC, folio 117, verso
- In adversity I wish for prosperity, and in prosperity I am afraid of adversity. What mediocrity may be found?1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC
mediocrity meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Sanskrit and Tagalog
mediocrity in Tamil
- ஒப்பந்தம், நடுத்தரம்
mediocrity in Malayalam
- മധ്യമത്വം, ഇടത്തരക്കാരൻ, ഇടത്തരം സാധനം, സാമാന്യത്വം
mediocrity in Sanskrit
- mediocrity, defectiveness
- मध्यम madhyamá
mediocrity in Tagalog
- condition of being mediocre
- dampat, kadampatan, karampatan
Examples of mediocrity in a sentence
- It was her attempt to square the mediocrity of the man with the enormity of his crimes.
- Devoid of its personality, and constipated in its decision making, the office muddled its way into mediocrity.
- They say that even the term 'satisfactories' is wrong because it suggests a level just above mediocrity.
Synonyms of mediocrity
Forms of mediocrity
| plural | mediocrities |
|---|
Origin of mediocrity
From Middle French médiocrité, from Latin mediocritās, from mediocris; by surface analysis, mediocre + -ity.
Words formed from mediocrity
Questions about mediocrity
- What does mediocrity mean?
- Mediocrity means the condition of being mediocre; having only an average degree of quality, skills etc.; no better than standard.
- What is mediocrity in Tamil?
- Mediocrity in Tamil is ஒப்பந்தம், நடுத்தரம். See Mediocrity meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is mediocrity?
- Mediocrity is a noun.
- How do you pronounce mediocrity?
- Mediocrity is pronounced /miː.dɪˈɒk.ɹɪ.ti/ (UK).
- What is the plural of mediocrity?
- The plural of mediocrity is mediocrities.
Words near mediocrity in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mediocrity (page history and authors); mediocrity (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mediocrity (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); मध्यम (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-mediocrity.wav.
Cite this entry: “mediocrity.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mediocrity. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.