mediocre

B2 Topic:Numbers & Quantity

US /ˌmidiˈoʊkəɹ/ UK /ˌmiːdɪˈəʊkə/ See IPA manual

Freq #14479

Meanings

1

adj
Not very good; only average and a little disappointing.

I'm good at tennis but only mediocre at squash.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · not very good; only average... average middlingsecond-rate

Opposites

a-gradeawesome bad excellent goodgrade-asatisfactory wonderful

Etymology

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.

medioker Middle English médiocre French mediocris Latin *h₂eḱ- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

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# mediocre

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌmidiˈoʊkəɹ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌmiːdɪˈəʊkə/
**Frequency rank:** 14479

## Meanings
1. Not very good; only average and a little disappointing.

## Examples
- I'm good at tennis but only mediocre at squash.

## Antonyms
- a-grade
- awesome
- bad
- excellent
- good
- grade-a
- satisfactory
- wonderful

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: medioker
- Root: médiocre
- Root: mediocris
- Root: *h₂eḱ-

## Etymology
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.

## AI Etymology
Mediocre comes 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. In present-day English it covers not very good; only average and a little disappointing. The historical chain runs through medioker (Middle English), médiocre (French), médiocre (Middle French), mediocris (Latin), and *h₂eḱ- (Proto-Indo-European).

## Topics
- Numbers & Quantity

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mediocre

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