mild
Americanadjective
-
milder,
comparative
-
mildest
superlative
-
amiably gentle or temperate in feeling or behavior toward others.
- Antonyms:
- forceful
-
characterized by or showing such gentleness, as manners or speech.
a mild voice.
-
not cold, severe, or extreme, as air or weather.
mild breezes.
- Antonyms:
- severe
-
not sharp, pungent, or strong.
a mild flavor.
- Synonyms:
- bland
-
not acute or serious, as disease.
a mild case of flu.
-
gentle or moderate in force or effect.
mild penalties.
- Antonyms:
- harsh
-
soft; pleasant.
mild sunshine.
-
moderate in intensity, degree, or character.
mild regret.
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British Dialect. comparatively soft and easily worked, as soil, wood, or stone.
-
Obsolete. kind or gracious.
noun
adjective
-
(of a taste, sensation, etc) not powerful or strong; bland
a mild curry
-
gentle or temperate in character, climate, behaviour, etc
-
not extreme; moderate
a mild rebuke
-
feeble; unassertive
noun
Synonym Usage
See gentle.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of mild
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English milde; cognate with German mild; akin to Greek malthakós “soft”
Explanation
A mild person is humble and meek — the opposite of bold. Mild things are also moderate in some way, like pleasantly mild weather or food that’s not spicy. Mild is the opposite of extreme. There’s nothing wild about mild. Mild comes from the Old English word milde for "gentle." Indeed, mild people are gentle. They don't brag or do cartwheels in supermarkets. They're mellow and submissive. Things can be mild too. Mild salsa doesn’t have many hot peppers. Mild can also mean slight, or small amount, as in a mild cold that doesn’t keep you home from school. If you skip school because you have a mild headache, you might just get a mild punishment.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Then come the chips: hot, sturdy, generously salted, piled into black woven baskets alongside ramekins of fire-engine-red mild salsa and a darker, spicier version flecked with onion and jalapeño.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
This has allowed mild south or south-westerly winds to flow, particularly across the southern half of the British Isles.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
When Harris suggested that even inaction by Congress could have a preemptive effect on state court proceedings, Gorsuch reacted with mild disbelief.
From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2026
Across multiple combinations of datasets, we find a consistent, mild preference for primordial magnetic fields, ranging from about 1.5 to three standard deviations.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
Jam could feel a mild frustration in her, that the painting wasn’t clear, that it was hiding around corners from her.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
A strong El Nino could increase the likelihood of a milder winter, easing heating demand and pressure on inventories, analysts at the firm say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
After a milder start to Friday, afternoon temperatures will reach the mid-20s Celsius again in south-east England as a ridge of high pressure holds on.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Elsewhere, it will be slightly milder with temperatures between 8 and 12C.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
Over in San Francisco, which faced down a severe heat wave in March, Google Weather users were left flummoxed by the charts of low-70s temps, way milder than the 90-degree record felt by downtown residents.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
The sun is warm then and the winds blow milder out of the west, sometimes out of the south.
From "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell
The school with the cleanest record got the mildest outcome.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Temperatures tend to be mildest in the fall and spring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2024
At its mildest, an aircraft may only experience slight erratic changes in altitude, but at the severe end, turbulence can cause large abrupt changes in altitude and angle of the plane.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2024
They should underline the fact that the recession at the end of the last year was the mildest on record.
From BBC ● May 10, 2024
Then she shrugged, the mildest, most indifferent gesture he had ever seen, and smiled.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
