mediocrity

noun

me·di·oc·ri·ty ˌmē-dē-ˈä-krə-tē

plural mediocrities

Synonyms of mediocrity next

: the quality or state of being mediocre

came to terms with his mediocrity

: moderate ability or value

fed up with the mediocrity of the local schools

: a mediocre person

a most intelligent middle-aged mediocrity—

Oscar Wilde

Did you know?

The Enduring Moderation of Mediocre

One of the things that is remarkable about mediocre is the extent to which it has retained its meaning over the course of more than four centuries of continual use. The word, when used as an adjective, has changed very little, if at all, in its meaning since it was used in a 1586 book titled The English Secretorie (our earliest known evidence): “Mediocre, a meane betwixt high and low, vehement and slender, too much and too little as we saye. . . .” The word comes to English via Middle French from the Latin word mediocris, meaning "of medium size, moderate, middling, commonplace," and perhaps originally "halfway to the top." The noun form of mediocre is mediocrity.

Did you know?

People interested in words always point out that mediocrity doesn't mean quite what its main root would indicate: Why doesn't it describe something that's right in the middle of the pack, exactly what you would expect? Instead the words mediocrity and mediocre always suggest disappointment. A mediocre play is one you wish you hadn't wasted an evening on, and the mediocre actor in it should probably find another profession. A person can even be called a mediocrity, though it isn't very nice and you'd never do it to his face.

Example Sentences

We were disappointed by the mediocrity of the wine. He thought that he was a brilliant artist himself and that all his fellow painters were just mediocrities.

Recent Examples on the Web After the golden run of the 1960s, his output in the subsequent decade ricocheted among genius, mediocrity, and just plain weird. —

David Weininger, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Jan. 2023 Doesn’t indexing reward mediocrity and excellence equally? DR. —

Daniel Akst, WSJ, 4 Nov. 2022 Our apparent mediocrity has only ascended in the centuries that have passed since Copernicus’s suggestion. —

Mario Livio, Scientific American, 19 Apr. 2023 And if Yu Darvish or Cliff Lee or Kenny Rogers or Kevin Brown (or anyone else who at least briefly earned that label) got beat up and left the game in the fourth inning, the strain on the bullpen with so much mid-level mediocrity in the rotation could be staggering. —

Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas News, 31 Mar. 2023 After a lifetime of mediocrity, my nose suddenly was capable of distinguishing other people by the smell of their breath alone—a new and strange kind of intimacy. —

Eleanor Cummins, The New Republic, 16 Mar. 2023 These leaders have bucked the trend of mediocrity, and successfully engage their workforce. —

Alain Hunkins, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2023 The Lions then hired Wood as team president, but have languished in a state of mediocrity for years. —

Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press, 10 May 2023 Teams that don’t have a succession plan for their most important position are doomed to mediocrity. —

Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 25 Apr. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mediocrity.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English mediokerte, mediocrite "moderation, medium size or amount," borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French mediocrité "intermediate state," borrowed from Latin mediocritāt-, mediocritās "moderateness of size or amount, intermediate character, limited ability," from mediocris "of medium size, moderate, mediocre" + -itāt-, -itās -ity

First Known Use

1588, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler

The first known use of mediocrity was in 1588

See more words from the same year