mediocrity
nounUK /miː.dɪˈɒk.ɹɪ.ti/ · US /mi.dɪˈɑk.ɹɪ.ti/
Etymology From Middle French médiocrité, from Latin mediocritās, from mediocris; by surface analysis, mediocre + -ity.
1
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:
2
A person with mediocre abilities or achievements.
- populated with mediocrities
- surrounded by mediocrities
3
Archaic The quality of being intermediate between two extremes; a mean.
4
Obsolete 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:
- Derived terms
- golden mediocrity, mediocritist, mediocritize, mediocrity principle, multimediocrity, submediocrity