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mild

[mahyld]
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adjective, mild·er, mild·est.
  1. amiably gentle or temperate in feeling or behavior toward others.
  2. characterized by or showing such gentleness, as manners or speech: a mild voice.
  3. not cold, severe, or extreme, as air or weather: mild breezes.
  4. not sharp, pungent, or strong: a mild flavor.
  5. not acute or serious, as disease: a mild case of flu.
  6. gentle or moderate in force or effect: mild penalties.
  7. soft; pleasant: mild sunshine.
  8. moderate in intensity, degree, or character: mild regret.
  9. British Dialect. comparatively soft and easily worked, as soil, wood, or stone.
  10. Obsolete. kind or gracious.
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noun
  1. British. beer that has a blander taste than bitter.
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Origin of mild

before 900; Middle English, Old English milde; cognate with German mild; akin to Greek malthakós soft
Related formsmild·ly, adverbmild·ness, nouno·ver·mild, adjectivesem·i·mild, adjectivesem·i·mild·ness, noun

Synonyms

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1. soft, pleasant. See gentle. 3. temperate, moderate, clement. 4. bland.

Antonyms

1. forceful. 3. severe. 6. harsh.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

compassiontendernesskindnessgentlenessleniency

Examples from the Web for mildness

Historical Examples

  • There is a coolness amid all the heat, a mildness in the blazing noon.

    The Old Manse (From "Mosses From An Old Manse")

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • There is no cheese superior to them in richness and mildness.

  • But if they were all mildness toward her, they were all fierceness toward one another.

    White Fang

    Jack London

  • One of the reasons for my mildness in public is that I have to be mild at home.

  • Mildness which has never been put to the proof, is often only counterfeit.

    The Autobiography of Madame Guyon

    Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte Guyon

British Dictionary definitions for mildness

mild

adjective
  1. (of a taste, sensation, etc) not powerful or strong; blanda mild curry
  2. gentle or temperate in character, climate, behaviour, etc
  3. not extreme; moderatea mild rebuke
  4. feeble; unassertive
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noun
  1. British draught beer, of darker colour than bitter and flavoured with fewer hops
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Derived Formsmildly, adverbmildness, noun

Word Origin

Old English milde; compare Old Saxon mildi, Old Norse mildr
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 mildness

n.

Old English mildnes "mildness, mercy," from mild (adj.) + -ness.

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mild

adj.

Old English milde "gentle, merciful," from Proto-Germanic *milthjaz- (cf. Old Norse mildr, Old Saxon mildi, Old Frisian milde, Middle Dutch milde, Dutch mild, Old High German milti, German milde "mild," Gothic mildiþa "kindness"), from PIE *meldh-, from root *mel- "soft," with derivatives referring to soft or softened materials (cf. Greek malthon "weakling," myle "mill;" Latin molere "to grind;" Old Irish meldach "tender;" Sanskrit mrdh "to neglect," also "to be moist"). Originally of persons and powers; of the weather from c.1400, of disease from 1744. Also in Old English as an adverb, "mercifully, graciously."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper