so-so

American  

[soh-soh, soh-soh] / ˈsoʊˌsoʊ, ˈsoʊˈsoʊ /

Or so so

adjective

1. Also soso indifferent; neither very good nor very bad.

   Synonyms:

   passable, average, ordinary, fair, mediocre

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adverb

1. in an indifferent or passable manner; indifferently; tolerably.

so-so British  

adjective

1. (postpositive) neither good nor bad

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adverb

1. in an average or indifferent manner

Etymology

Origin of so-so

First recorded in 1520–30

Explanation

When something is only okay or mediocre, it's so-so. If that new action movie had a few exciting scenes but an implausible plot and some uneven acting, you might say it was just so-so. So-so is perfect for describing things that fall right in between terrible and spectacular. A basketball season in which your team wins half the games and loses the other half is a so-so season. And a movie book that you didn't hate but wouldn't recommend to all of your friends is also so-so. In French you'd say "Comme çi comme ça," or "like this, like that," and in Swahili you might say "Nusu nusu," or "half and half."

Example Sentences

Consumer spending, meanwhile, was just so-so in January.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 13, 2026

The poetry is so-so, but programmers are entranced by its coding skill.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 24, 2026

Stocks tumbled Friday and tech stocks led the declines as investors tried to make sense of a batch of so-so earnings from some major tech stocks earlier in the week.

From Barron's • Dec. 12, 2025

Its actual meaning is unclear, though some say it means "so-so" or "maybe this, maybe that".

From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025

Like many a really good artist, M. Yoshoto taught drawing not a whit better than it’s taught by a so-so artist who has a nice flair for teaching.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger

Related Words

• mediocre
• middling
• passable
• respectable
• undistinguished