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.
- 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.
- 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.
- intransitive verb To become less violent, severe, rigorous, or intense.
- intransitive verb To preside as a moderator.
- 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.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Not
excessive ; acting inmoderation - adjective
Mediocre - adjective Average priced; standard-deal
- adjective US, politics Having an intermediate position between
liberal andconservative . - 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 tocompromise
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
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The language of everyday conversation, when not marked by intensity of feeling or purpose, requires only a moderate amount of physical and mental energy and is expressed by _moderate force_.
The Ontario High School Reader A.E. Marty
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Whatever it may do in this way, in men, in women it is sure, unless prevented by age or by salutary ugliness, to produce a moderate, and a _very moderate_, portion of chastity.
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Optimists say it need not be a reprise of Iran; that it could look more like Turkey; that the term "moderate Islamist" isn't an oxymoron, at least in a relative sense.
Why Islamists Are Winning Bret Stephens 2011
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Clearly, the use of the term moderate here is meant as a compliment.
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The term moderate is all relative; a winner needs to be close to where the electorate see themselves.
Smoking Guns and the Morality of Parliamentary Privilege 2009
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The term moderate Muslims may include those who aren't religiously observant, and thus offend those Muslims who are.
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Many devout Muslims dislike the term moderate, too, saying it suggests deviation from the tenets of the Quran.
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"I would use the term moderate more for the weather than Islam," said Ayaan Hirsi Ali,
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And it's why the term moderate is meaningless when applied to Muslims in the West.
The Jawa Report Rusty 2010
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In March 2005, when Mathias received an award from the Maryland Sen.te, state archivist Edward Papenfuse told the Sen.te that as a Republican in a Democratic state, "Sen. Mathias wore the label moderate Republican with pride and to great effect."
chained_bear commented on the word moderate
Lesser-Known Slogans of Political Moderates.
August 26, 2008
oroboros commented on the word moderate
We need a moderate to moderate.
January 3, 2010