mediocrity

American  

[mee-dee-ok-ri-tee] / ˌmi diˈɒk rɪ ti /

noun

mediocrities plural

1. the state or quality of being mediocre.

2. mediocre ability or accomplishment.

3. a mediocre person.

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mediocrity British  

/ ˌmɛd-, ˌmiːdɪˈɒkrɪtɪ /

noun

1. the state or quality of being mediocre

2. a mediocre person or thing

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mediocrities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mediocrity

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English mediocrite, from Middle French mediocrite, from Latin mediocritāt-, stem of mediocritās “middle state, moderation”; equivalent to mediocre + -ity

Compare meaning

How does mediocrity compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• mediocracy vs. mediocrity

Explanation

The noun mediocrity means the quality of being average or ordinary. You can't be great at everything — in some areas, we all fall into mediocrity. Mediocrity, pronounced "me-dee-AH-crih-tee," has Latin parts that together literally mean "halfway up the mountain." You can see how it still applies — in climbing the mountain — or ladder — of success, mediocrity is in the middle, neither leading the pack nor sprawling on ground, giving up. Such of person of this middle-level of success can also be called a mediocrity. That's a second definition of the word.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mediocrity mediocrities

Was he merely a brilliant mediocrity, the essential staff man who made things tick for the great figures of history without ever being one himself?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

Kicking and screaming, they won matches they looked like they weren't going to win, dug out key goals in the dying seconds, triumphed over their own mediocrity at times, driven on by Martin O'Neill.

From BBC ● May 16, 2026

The answer to that question is in the mediocrity that most of these people are trying to hide, often even from themselves.

From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2026

Salieri may be a mediocrity, destined to be a footnote in the short yet indelible life of Mozart.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 18, 2026

Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

But they were also politicians, self-serving and ambitious, often well-born mediocrities flying high above their general level of talent.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2022

Marcel will come to a similar conclusion at the end of the novel, seeing the aristocratic elites who dazzled him in his youth as mediocrities, elevated to the status of demigods by his imagination.

From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2022

Almost all of Hunt’s wistfully exasperated attempts to get Johnson to answer a question – any question – could have been replaced with the howl “I speak for all the mediocrities in the world”.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 12, 2019

And Vargas Llosa has published so many novels — 18 in all — that the tours de force can get lost among the mediocrities.

From New York Times ● Feb. 20, 2018

It’s why picking the right candidate for a job is so difficult and why, on more occasions than we may care to admit, utter mediocrities sometimes end up in positions of enormous responsibility.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

Related Words

• normality