mediocrity
[mee-dee-ok-ri-tee]
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Origin of mediocrity
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for mediocrity
Contemporary Examples
If the point was to create a paean to mediocrity, then Linklater has made maybe the definitive work on the subject.
Does the mediocrity of the job market mean that America no longer needs people who deal with abstractions?
Both the Giants and the Jets descended into mediocrity, a situation epitomized by the “Miracle In The Meadowlands” in 1978.
While the Giants receded into two decades of mediocrity, the Jets took over New York.
He wrote poems as a high school student on the side, but was never too serious, for fear of failure or mediocrity.
Historical Examples
It was a different thing to advertise one's mediocrity to the world.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
The kind of renown most accessible and acceptable to mediocrity.
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce
I see only mediocrity in her, and you will find a hundred women who will be more worthy of you.
The Middle Class GentlemanMoliere
I may be the son of a genius, but I am nevertheless a mediocrity.
MelomaniacsJames Huneker
He is the embodiment of routine and conservatism, because he is the embodiment of mediocrity.
The Curse of EducationHarold E. Gorst
mediocrity
- the state or quality of being mediocre
- a mediocre person or thing
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for mediocrity
n.
early 15c., "moderation; intermediate state or amount," from Middle French médiocrité and directly from Latin mediocritatem (nominative mediocritas) "a middle state, middling condition, medium," from mediocris (see mediocre). Neutral at first; disparaging sense began to predominate from late 16c. The meaning "person of mediocre abilities or attainments" is from 1690s. Before the tinge of disparagement crept in, another name for the Golden Mean was golden mediocrity.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper