moderate
Not excessive; acting in moderation
Adjective
- Not excessive; acting in moderation
- moderate language
- a moderate Calvinist
- travelling at a moderate speed
- more than mild, less than severe
- Mediocre
- Average priced; standard-deal
- Not violent or rigorous; temperate; mild; gentle.
- a moderate winter
- These are called the Islands of the Blest; rains fall there seldom, and in moderate showers, but for the most part they have gentle breezes, bringing along with them soft dews - 1859, Arthur Hugh Clough, Life of...
- Having an intermediate position between liberal and conservative.
Synonyms: middle-of-the-road
Origin
From Middle English moderat(e) (“moderate, temperate”), borrowed from Latin moderātus, perfect active participle of moderor (“to regulate, to restrain, to moderate”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from moder-, modes-, a stem appearing also in modestus (“moderate, discreet, modest”), from modus (“a measure”); see mode and modest. Doublet of moderato. Displaced native Old English ġemetlīċ (“moderate”) and metegian (“to moderate”). Cognate with French modéré.
Forms
Synonyms
measured mellow middle of the road mild moderate nonexcessive nonextreme nonfanatic proper reasonable reasonous sober temperate tempered unexcessive unextreme
Antonyms
Hyponyms
Related
Derived
moderate breeze moderately moderateness moderatism moderatist nonmoderate ultramoderate unmoderate
Noun
- One who holds an intermediate position between extremes, as in politics.
- While the moderates usually propose political compromise, it's often only achieved when the extremists allow them so
- The moderates are the natural advocates of ecumenism against the fanatics of their churches.
- On the other side, RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch (a moderate) has to contend with the hardliners on his executive, whose intentions go way beyond trying to sort out their members' terms and conditions. - 2022 June...
- One of a party in Scottish Church history dominant in the 18th century, lax in doctrine and discipline, but intolerant of evangelicalism and popular rights. It caused the secessions of 1733 and 1761, and its final resultant was the Disruption of 1843.
Origin
From a substantivization of the above adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.
Forms
Verb
- To reduce the excessiveness of (something).
- to moderate rage, action, desires, etc.
- By its astringent Quality, it moderates the relaxing quality of warm Water. - 1731, John Arbuthnot, An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human...
- This leaves two strategies to increase the current in a positron beam. First is to provide a stronger positron source and second is to develop a more efficient method to moderate the source positrons into a...
- To become less excessive.
- He used to be an extremist but moderated later in life.
Synonyms: cool settle down soften ease off
- To preside over (something) as a moderator.
- to moderate a synod
- To act as a moderator; to assist in bringing to compromise.
- We need more users to volunteer to moderate the comment section of our forum.
- To supply with a moderator (substance that decreases the speed of neutrons in a nuclear reactor and hence increases likelihood of fission).
- a graphite-moderated reactor
Origin
From Middle English moderaten (“to restrain, curb; (law) modify”), from moderat(e) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Latin moderātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.
Forms
Related
Derived
automoderate metamoderate moderating moderation moderative nonmoderated overmoderate remoderate retromoderate unmoderated unmoderating