moderate

Etymology

From Middle English moderat, from Latin moderātus, perfect active participle of moderor (“regulate, restrain, moderate”), from moder-, modes-, a stem appearing also in modestus (“moderate, discreet, modest”), from modus (“measure”); see mode and modest. Doublet of moderato. Displaced native Old English ġemetlīċ (“moderate”) and metegian (“to moderate”).

adj

1. Not excessive; acting in moderation
   moderate language
   a moderate Calvinist
   travelling at a moderate speed
   A number of moderate members managed […] to obtain a majority in a thin house. 1731, Jonathan Swift, The Presbyterians Plea of Merit
2. (pathology) more than mild, less than severe
3. Mediocre
4. Average priced; standard-deal
5. 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 Sertorius
6. (US, politics) Having an intermediate position between liberal and conservative.

noun

1. 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. June 29 2022, Christian Wolmar, “Strike settlement held back by ministers”, in RAIL, number 960, page 43
2. (Christianity, historical) 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.

verb

1. (transitive) To reduce the excessiveness of (something)
   to moderate rage, action, desires, etc.
   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 monoenergetic beam. 2000, Paul G. Coleman, Positron Beams and Their Applications, page 309
2. (intransitive) To become less excessive
3. (transitive) To preside over (something) as a moderator
   to moderate a synod
4. (intransitive) To act as a moderator; to assist in bringing to compromise
5. (transitive, physics) 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