1.
mediocre; ordinary; unremarkable; undistinguished
Describes a person, ability, or work that is average and lacks any outstanding qualities. Carries a negative nuance, implying disappointment at the lack of talent, originality, or distinction.
凡庸な作品だった。
It was a mediocre work.
彼は決して凡庸な人間ではない。
He is by no means an ordinary person.
凡庸な指導者のもとでは、組織は成長しない。
Under a mediocre leader, an organization won't grow.
A な-adjective with a distinctly literary and formal tone. Used in writing and formal speech to critique someone or something as lacking distinction. The characters 凡 (ordinary) and 庸 (mediocre) both reinforce the sense of unremarkable averageness.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 凡庸な才能: mediocre talent
- 凡庸な政治家: an unremarkable politician
- 凡庸さ: mediocrity (noun form)
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 平凡: ordinary, common — more neutral, less critical
- ありきたり: commonplace, run-of-the-mill — focuses on lack of originality
- 陳腐: stale, hackneyed — implies something once novel that has become worn out
- 非凡: extraordinary — the antonym, using 非 (non-) prefix