mediocre
adj. · n.-
1 not very good (adj.) B2 Upper Intermediatenot very good or special; just average in a way that is disappointing.
of only moderate quality; not very good or impressive. Usually carries a pejorative nuance suggesting a failure to reach a higher standard.
ExampleThe food at the new restaurant was mediocre, so we probably won't go back.
ExampleDespite the massive marketing budget, the film received mediocre reviews from critics who found the plot predictable and the acting uninspired.
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2 an unremarkable person (n.) C2 Proficiency Literary Formala person who does not have any special skills or success.
a person of low or unremarkable significance, talent, or achievement.
ExampleHe was a mediocre among giants, struggling to keep up with his talented peers.
ExampleThe essay argues that the era was defined not by its great leaders, but by the rise of the mediocres who filled the administrative ranks.
- luminary
- celebrity
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3 historical middle class (n.) C2 Proficiency Archaic Technicala person in history who was between the rich upper class and the poor workers.
a member of a socioeconomic class situated between the aristocracy and the peasantry.
ExampleIn that society, a mediocre had more rights than a farmer but fewer than a lord.
ExampleThe historian examined the legal status of the mediocres in sixteenth-century social hierarchies.
- middle class person
From the late Middle English medioker, from the French médiocre, from the Middle French médiocre, from the Classical Latin mediocris (“in a middle state”, “of middle size”, “middling”, “moderate”, “ordinary”, from medius (“middle”) + ocris (“rugged mountain”)); compare mediocrely and mediocrity.