Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Moderate

Mod′er·ate (·āt), a. [L. moderatus, p. p. of moderate, moderati, to moderate, regulate, control, fr. modus measure. See Mode.] Kept within due bounds; observing reasonable limits; not excessive, extreme, violent, or rigorous; limited; restrained; as: (a) Limited in quantity; sparing; temperate; frugal; as, moderate in eating or drinking; a moderate table. (b) Limited in degree of activity, energy, or excitement; reasonable; calm; slow; as, moderate language; moderate endeavors. (c) Not extreme in opinion, in partisanship, and the like; as, a moderate Calvinist.

A number of moderate members managed . . . to obtain a majority in a thin house. Swift.

(d) Not violent or rigorous; temperate; mild; gentle; as, a moderate winter. "Moderate showers." Walter. (e) Limited as to degree of progress; as, to travel at moderate speed. (f) Limited as to the degree in which a quality, principle, or faculty appears; as, an infusion of moderate strength; a man of moderate abilities. (g) Limited in scope or effects; as, a reformation of a moderate kind. Hooker.

Mod′er·ate, n. (Eccl. Hist.) One of a party in the Church of Scotland in the 18th century, and part of the 19th, professing moderation in matters of church government, in discipline, and in doctrine.

Mod′er·ate (·āt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Moderated; p. pr. & vb. n. Moderating.] 1. To restrain from excess of any kind; to reduce from a state of violence, intensity, or excess; to keep within bounds; to make temperate; to lessen; to allay; to repress; to temper; to qualify; as, to moderate rage, action, desires, etc.; to moderate heat or wind.

By its astringent quality, it moderates the relaxing quality of warm water. Arbuthnot.

To moderate stiff minds disposed to strive. Spenser.

2. To preside over, direct, or regulate, as a public meeting; as, to moderate a synod.

Mod′er·ate, v. i. 1. To become less violent, severe, rigorous, or intense; as, the wind has moderated.

2. To preside as a moderator.

Dr. Barlow [was] engaged . . . to moderate for him in the divinity disputation. Bp. Barlow's Remains.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.