mediocrity Hear it!

mediocrity Definition

me·di·oc·rity (mē′dē äkrə tē)

noun pl. -·ties

  1. the quality or state of being mediocre
  2. mediocre ability or attainment
  3. a person of mediocre abilities or attainments

Etymology: Fr médiocrité < L mediocritas

mediocrity Synonyms

mediocrity

n.

  1. Ordinariness

    commonplaceness, commonness; see normality 1.

  2. A mediocre person

    upstart, cipher, nonentity; Tom, Dick, and Harry; see citizen, commoner, nobody 2.

mediocrity Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • life: And these characters are aggressively alive, their vitality a direct challenge to the mediocrity of ordinary life.
  • performer: I think where the resentment comes in the Commonwealth games is in the mediocrity of the star performers.

Converse of object

  • tolerate: He argued that ' we should never tolerate mediocrity in our ambition ' .
  • accept: Most whom have opted to never accept mediocrity can tell you that being an athlete is a 24/7 job!
  • achieve: They will be rewarded by the Government for achieving mediocrity.
  • reward: The judging scheme is not designed to reward unadventurous mediocrity; excellent ringing will, however, be rewarded highly.
  • say: But they are always a mass, that is to say, collective mediocrity.
  • do: If you do then mediocrity will thrive in some parts of the NEC.

Adjective modifier

  • mid-table: Should be safe from any thoughts of the drop, however - it's mid-table mediocrity at worst!
  • mid: Nationwide first division mid table mediocrity looms large for the Raw Dikes Stadium.
  • own: Everywhere we looked we were dazzled by our own mediocrity.
  • utter: I am most at home in the midst of total and utter mediocrity.
  • boring: I want to propose that when there is boring mediocrity in preaching it is not the result of careful use of biblical theology.
  • such: A waste of talent is always tragic, and there can only be hope his next offering can rise above such mediocrity.

Modifies a noun

  • rule: There, mediocrity rules with a rod of iron.

Noun used with modifier

  • table: Mid to low table mediocrity beckons even for an improved squad.
mediocrity Quotes

War is a condition of progress; the whip-cut that prevents a country from going to sleep and forces satisfied mediocrity to shake off its apathy.

—Renan, (Joseph) Ernest

A third-rate political wheel-horse, with the face of a moving-picture actor, the intelligence of a respectable agricultural implement dealer, and the imagination of a lodge joiner†a benign blanköa decent, harmless, laborious, hollow-headed mediocrity.

—Mencken, H(enry) L(ouis)

Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best.

—Beerbohm, Sir (Henry) Max(imilian)

Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognises genius.

—Doyle, SirArthur Conan

It was the supreme expression of the mediocrity of the apparatus that Stalin himself rose to his position.

—Trotsky, Leon originally Lev Davidovich Bronstein

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.

—Cooper,James Fenimore