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mediocrity

/ˌmidiˈɑkrədi/
/midiˈɒkrɪti/
IPA guide

Other forms: mediocrities

The noun mediocrity means the quality of being average or ordinary. You can't be great at everything — in some areas, we all fall into mediocrity.

Mediocrity, pronounced "me-dee-AH-crih-tee," has Latin parts that together literally mean "halfway up the mountain." You can see how it still applies — in climbing the mountain — or ladder — of success, mediocrity is in the middle, neither leading the pack nor sprawling on ground, giving up. Such of person of this middle-level of success can also be called a mediocrity. That's a second definition of the word.

Definitions of mediocrity
  1. noun
    ordinariness as a consequence of being average and not outstanding
    synonyms: averageness
    see moresee less
    type of:
    mundaneness, mundanity, ordinariness
    the quality of being commonplace and ordinary
  2. noun
    a person of second-rate ability or value
    “shone among the mediocrities who surrounded him”
    synonyms: second-rater
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