moderate#

moderate adj

1 Moderate, temperate are often used interchangeably to denote not excessive in degree, amount, or intensity

{

a moderate allowance

}

{

temperate heat

}

When contrasted moderate often connotes absence or avoidance of excess and is opposed to excessive and immoderate, while temperate connotes deliberate restraint or restriction and is opposed to intemperate and inordinate; thus, "a moderate drinker" suggests free but far from excessive indulgence in intoxicants, and "a temperate drinker" suggests restrained and cautious indulgence; "moderate enthusiasm" suggests lukewarmness, "temperate enthusiasm" suggests keeping a hold over one's exhibition of feeling; one's anger may be far from moderate, yet one's reply may be temperate. Especially in technical language moderate and temperate often denote falling or staying within a range midway between extremes or designate a point (as in a scale) characterized neither by excess nor by deficiency of something understood. When so used they are not usually interchangeable, for custom or terminology has determined the selection

{

moderate temperature

}

{

a moderate breeze

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{

a temperate climate

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{

a temperate zone

}

In this sense both moderate and temperate have two antonyms, one on the side of deficiency and the other on the side of excess. These antonyms are usually specific and vary according to the application, for example: light and strong (of breezes); arctic and torrid (of climate); abstemious and gluttonous (of eating); mild and violent (of something having force and intensity).

Analogous words: ordinary, *common, familiar: gentle, mild, bland, *soft: *sparing, economical

Antonyms: immoderate

Contrasted words: *excessive, extreme, inordinate

2 *medium, middling, mediocre, second-rate, average, fair, indifferent

Analogous words: decent, *decorous, proper: *steady, even, equable, constant

moderate vb Moderate, qualify, temper are comparable when they mean to modify something so as to avoid an extreme or to keep within due bounds.

Moderate stresses reduction of what is excessive, but it does not necessarily imply finding the happy mean

{

the sun at midday moderates the cold

}

{

you must moderate your demands if you wish to be listened to

}

{

"Moderate your language, old man," I said; "remember that you are addressing a superior"— Hudson

}

{

moderating his big voice to the dimensions of the room— Clifton Daniel

}

Qualify emphasizes restriction or more precise definition that brings a thing closer to the truth or facts or that makes it less general, inclusive, or sweeping or that gives it a clearly defined quality or character of its own

{

it is time to qualify the over simple account I have given of the artist's process of creation— Alexander

}

{

almost every important point must be qualified with adverbs and adjectives expressing uncertainty, approximation, tentativeness— Drey

}

Temper strongly implies accommodation to the needs or requirements of someone or something; it need not suggest moderation or qualification, but it usually implies the addition of a counterbalancing or mitigating thing

{

God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb— Old Proverb

}

{

denunciation must be firm, tempered with sadness over the falling from grace— Mac— Innes}}

}

{

temper justice with mercy

}

Analogous words: abate, reduce, lessen, diminish, *decrease: mitigate, alleviate, lighten, *relieve: slow, slacken (see DELAY)

Contrasted words: intensify, aggravate, heighten, enhance: augment, increase