Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Being within reasonable limits; not excessive or extreme.
  • adjective Not violent or subject to extremes; mild or calm; temperate.
  • adjective Of medium or average quantity or extent.
  • adjective Of limited or average quality; mediocre.
  • adjective Opposed to radical or extreme views or measures, especially in politics or religion.
  • noun One who holds or champions moderate views or opinions, especially in politics or religion.
  • intransitive verb To cause to be less extreme, intense, or violent.
  • intransitive verb To preside over.
  • intransitive verb To become less extreme, intense, or violent; abate.
  • intransitive verb To act as a moderator.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Restrained; temperate; keeping within somewhat restricted limits in action or opinion; avoiding extremes or excess; thinking or acting soberly or temperately: as, to be moderate in all things; a moderate drinker.
  • Thinking, speaking, or acting with habitual slowness; very deliberate.
  • Of things, limited in extent, amount, or degree; not extreme, excessive, or remarkable; restricted; medium: as, moderate wealth or poverty; a moderate quantity; moderate opinions or ability; moderate weather or exercise.
  • Synonyms Moderate, Temperate, reasonable, judicious, mild. When used absolutely, moderate, nearly always refers to a person's temper or opinions, whereas temperate similarly used generally refers to a person's habits in respect to bodily indulgence: a moderate man is one who is not extreme in his views or violent in his sentiments; a temperate man, one who is not addicted to over-indulgence either in eating or in drinking.
  • noun One who is moderate in opinion or action; one who is opposed to extreme views or courses, especially in politics or religion.
  • To reduce the amount or intensity of; lessen; reduce; restrain; specifically, to reduce from a large amount or great degree to a medium quantity or intensity: as, to moderate the heat of a room; to moderate one's anger, ardor, or passions.
  • To decide as a moderator; judge.
  • Synonyms To mitigate, abate, appease, pacify, quiet, assuage, soothe, soften.
  • To become less violent, severe, rigorous, or intense: as, the storm begins to moderate.
  • To preside as a moderator, as at a meeting.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To become less violent, severe, rigorous, or intense.
  • intransitive verb To preside as a moderator.
  • transitive verb To restrain from excess of any kind; to reduce from a state of violence, intensity, or excess; to keep within bounds; to make temperate; to lessen; to allay; to repress; to temper; to qualify
  • transitive verb To preside over, direct, or regulate, as a public meeting or a discussion.
  • noun (Eccl. Hist.) One of a party in the Church of Scotland in the 18th century, and part of the 19th, professing moderation in matters of church government, in discipline, and in doctrine.
  • adjective Limited in quantity; sparing; temperate; frugal.
  • adjective Limited in degree of activity, energy, or excitement; reasonable; calm; slow
  • adjective Not extreme in opinion, in partisanship, and the like.
  • adjective Not violent or rigorous; temperate; mild; gentle.
  • adjective Limited as to degree of progress.
  • adjective Limited as to the degree in which a quality, principle, or faculty appears.
  • adjective Limited in scope or effects.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not excessive; acting in moderation
  • adjective Mediocre
  • adjective Average priced; standard-deal
  • adjective US, politics Having an intermediate position between liberal and conservative.
  • noun politics One who holds an intermediate position between the extremes relevant in a political context
  • noun Similar middle-grounder in any other context.
  • verb transitive To reduce the excessiveness of (something)
  • verb intransitive To become less excessive
  • verb transitive To preside over (something) as a moderator
  • verb intransitive To act as a moderator; to assist in bringing to compromise

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective being within reasonable or average limits; not excessive or extreme
  • adjective not extreme
  • verb lessen the intensity of; temper; hold in restraint; hold or keep within limits
  • verb make less fast or intense
  • adjective marked by avoidance of extravagance or extremes
  • verb preside over
  • verb make less strong or intense; soften

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English moderat, from Latin moderātus, past participle of moderārī, to moderate; see med- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English moderat, from Latin moderātus, perfect active participle of moderor ("regulate, restrain, moderate"), from moder-, modes-, a stem appearing also in modestus ("moderate, discreet, modest"), from modus ("measure"); see mode and modest.

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