moderate
Americanadjective
-
kept or keeping within reasonable or proper limits; not extreme, excessive, or intense.
a moderate price.
-
of medium quantity, extent, or amount.
a moderate income.
- Synonyms:
- average
-
mediocre or fair.
moderate talent.
-
calm or mild, as of the weather.
-
of or relating to moderates, as in politics or religion.
- Antonyms:
- radical
noun
-
moderates
plural
-
a person who is moderate in opinion or opposed to extreme views and actions, especially in politics or religion.
- Antonyms:
- radical
-
(usually initial capital letter) a member of a political party advocating moderate reform.
verb (used with object)
-
moderates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
moderated,
past participle, past
-
moderating
present participle
-
to reduce the excessiveness of; make less violent, severe, intense, or rigorous.
to moderate the sharpness of one's words.
-
to preside over or at (a public forum, meeting, discussion, etc.).
verb (used without object)
-
moderates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
moderated,
past participle, past
-
moderating
present participle
-
to become less violent, severe, intense, or rigorous.
-
to act as moderator; preside.
adjective
-
not extreme or excessive; within due or reasonable limits
moderate demands
-
not violent; mild or temperate
-
of average quality or extent
moderate success
noun
verb
-
to become or cause to become less extreme or violent
-
to preside over a meeting, discussion, etc
-
to act as an external moderator of the overall standards and marks for (some types of educational assessment)
-
physics to slow down (neutrons), esp by using a moderator
-
(tr) to monitor (the conversations in an on-line chatroom) for bad language, inappropriate content, etc
Synonym Usage
Moderate, temperate, judicious, reasonable all stress the avoidance of excess—emotional, physical, intellectual, or otherwise. Moderate implies response or behavior that is by nature not excessive: a moderate drinker, a moderate amount of assistance. Temperate, interchangeable with moderate in some general uses, usually stresses the idea of caution, control, or self-restraint: a surprisingly temperate response to the angry challenge. Judicious emphasizes prudence and the exercise of careful judgment: a judicious balance between freedom and restraint; judicious care to offend neither side. Reasonable suggests the imposition or adoption of limits derived from the application of reason or good sense: a reasonable price; a reasonable amount of damages allotted to each claimant. See allay.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
moderatesimple
-
moderatessimple
-
have moderatedperfect
-
has moderatedperfect
-
am moderatingprogressive
-
are moderatingprogressive
-
is moderatingprogressive
-
have been moderatingperfect progressive
-
has been moderatingperfect progressive
Past
-
moderatedsimple
-
had moderatedperfect
-
was moderatingprogressive
-
were moderatingprogressive
-
had been moderatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of moderate
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English moderate (adjective) moderaten (verb), from Latin moderātus (past participle of moderārī “to mitigate, restrain, control”), equivalent to moderā- verb stem ( see modest) + -tus past participle suffix
Explanation
A moderate voter is someone who is politically speaking, in the center. In other words, they are not quite left or right, but somewhere in the middle. Moderate comes from the Latin for "medium sized," and as a noun and an adjective it means "middle, medium." If you get moderate rainfall, it's not too much and not too little. Goldilocks was known for her moderate tastes. As a verb, it means "to temper," or "to reduce from the extreme." If you moderate your speed while driving, you slow down a bit. If you moderate a discussion, you help two or more people have a reasonable conversation.
Vocabulary lists containing moderate
Liberty, Equality, Vocabulary: The French Revolution
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"The Flight of Icarus," Vocabulary from the myth
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"Mother Tongue" by Amy Tan
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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:
By comparison, 90 minutes of continuous moderate cycling altered less than one-quarter of one percent.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
Fourteen people escaped the building, police said, of whom two were seriously injured, two suffered moderate injuries and four suffered minor injuries.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
However, around one in five people who are infected develop a fever and moderate symptoms such as body aches, vomiting and diarrhea.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
After years of managing J.’s practical needs and mercurial moods, Ms. Eubanks saw a therapist who diagnosed her with a moderate form of PTSD.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
“That's too bad. Maybe we moderate people should raise our voices.”
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
Iran’s top negotiators and perceived moderates are openly under attack in the country’s media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Throughout the campaign, Stevens argued that El-Sayed would not be able to defeat Rogers, a refrain some moderates repeated Wednesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Among self-described moderates, Talarico’s lead is even more pronounced, with the Democrat ahead 54% to 20%.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026
But it’s true that some moderates are feeling burned.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
It was obvious that they regarded us, the Rivonia Trialists, as moderates.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Treasury yields kept falling as U.S. inflation moderated while the U.S.-Iran standoff continued.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Jet-fuel prices moderated in June, but have been on the rise again in recent days.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026
In a discussion moderated by “Master of None” actor Lena Waithe, Prince-Bythewood and the cast talked about the making and almost-not-making of the film.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Gains for the footwear and apparel company’s two biggest brands moderated from recent periods.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
She gave him a little horn cup containing a hot potion whose bitterness was moderated by honey, and presently he lay back and fell deeply asleep.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
The S&P 500 closed at a record high Thursday as investors bet that a combination of moderating inflation and an AI boom would lead to lasting growth in the U.S. economy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The man has achieved significant political capital without moderating anything he stands for.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026
Candidates could consider moderating their message to attract orphaned voters, though that can be perilous.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
For workers, companies’ moderating budgets for pay increases show the price of hunkering down at their current job.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Nuah is behind me, being Mr. Nice Guy and not passing me but moderating his pace.
From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali
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.
