Today’s adjective is “mediocre”. It is used to talk about something which is very average in terms of its quality. However, if we say something is “average” rather than “mediocre”, it sounds more positive. So the word “mediocre” has a very negative feeling to it. For example:
I’ve heard the quality of education at that school is very mediocre, so I want my son to go to a different school.
Frankly, your work on this project was mediocre. What’s the matter? You usually do much better work.
I was really looking forward to eating at the new Italian restaurant downtown, but the food was really mediocre. I was so disappointed!
That singer’s latest album is very mediocre compared to her earlier albums.
So this is how we use this word. It’s usually used when talking about situations that have to do with other people, but we don’t usually use it about ourselves.
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