mild

• POS: Adjective, Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

mild, a. [AS. milde; akin to OS. mildi, D. & G. mild, OHG. milti, Icel. mildr, Sw. & Dan. mild, Goth. milds; cf. Lith. melas dear, Gr. gladdening gifts.].

 Gentle; pleasant; kind; soft; bland; clement; hence, moderate in degree or quality; -- the opposite of harsh, severe, irritating, violent, disagreeable, etc.; -- applied to persons and things; as, a mild disposition; a mild eye; a mild air; a mild medicine; a mild insanity.  [1913 Webster]
"The rosy morn resigns her light
And milder glory to the noon."  [1913 Webster]
"Adore him as a mild and merciful Being."  [1913 Webster]

Mild steel, or Low steel, steel that has but little carbon in it and is not readily hardened.

Syn. -- Soft; gentle; bland; calm; tranquil; soothing; pleasant; placid; meek; kind; tender; indulgent; clement; mollifying; lenitive; assuasive. See Gentle.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

mild, adj.
1 (esp. of a person) gentle and conciliatory.
2 (of a rule, punishment, illness, feeling, etc.) moderate; not severe.
3 (of the weather, esp. in winter) moderately warm.
4 a (of food, tobacco, etc.) not sharp or strong in taste etc. b Brit. (of beer) not strongly flavoured with hops (cf. BITTER).
5 (of medicine) operating gently.
6 tame, feeble; lacking energy or vivacity.

Idiom

mild steel steel containing a small percentage of carbon, strong and tough but not readily tempered.

Derivative

milden v.tr. & intr. mildish adj. mildness n.

Etymology

OE milde f. Gmc

THESAURUS

mild

Saturnian, accepting, aestival, affable, agreeable, amiable, balmy, benign, benignant, bland, blood-hot, blood-warm, bonhomous, bright, broken, calid, calm, calming, chastened, choice, clement, compassionate, complaisant, conciliatory, cordial, dainty, dead, deferential, delicate, demulcent, dilute, diluted, docile, domesticated, dovelike, easy, easy-natured, easygoing, emollient, equable, equatorial, exquisite, fade, faint, fair, flat, flavorless, forbearant, forbearing, forgiving, genial, gentle, good-humored, good-natured, good-tempered, gruelly, halcyon, housebroken, humane, humble, inane, indifferent, indulgent, inoffensive, insipid, jejune, judicious, kind, kindly, lamblike, lax, lenient, lenitive, luke, lukewarm, meek, mellow, mellowy, merciful, mild as milk, milk-and-water, moderate, modest, mollified, mollifying, nonresistive, nonrigid, nonviolent, obeisant, obliging, pacific, pacifistic, pappy, passive, patient, peaceable, peaceful, placid, pleasant, prudent, pulpy, quiet, room-temperature, sapless, savorless, serene, smooth, sober, soft, soft as putty, softened, softening, soothing, spiceless, stale, subdued, submissive, subservient, subtropical, summery, sunny, sunshiny, sweet, sweet-tempered, tame, tamed, tasteless, temperate, tender, tepid, thermal, thermic, thin, toasty, tolerant, tractable, tranquil, tropical, unassuming, unflavored, unfrozen, unsavory, vapid, warm, warm as toast, warmish, washy, watered, watered-down, watery, weak, well-natured, whisper-soft, wishy-washy, yielding

ROGET THESAURUS

mild

Lenity

N lenity, lenience, leniency, moderation, tolerance, toleration, mildness, gentleness, favor, indulgence, indulgency, clemency, mercy, forbearance, quarter, compassion, lenient, mild, mild as milk, gentle, soft, tolerant, indulgent, easy-going, clement, forbearing, long-suffering.

Moderation

N moderation, lenity, temperateness, gentleness, sobriety, quiet, mental calmness, moderating, anaphrodisia, relaxation, remission, mitigation, tranquilization, assuagement, contemporation, pacification, measure, juste milieu, golden mean, ariston metron, moderator, lullaby, sedative, lenitive, demulcent, antispasmodic, carminative, laudanum, rose water, balm, poppy, opiate, anodyne, milk, opium, poppy or mandragora, wet blanket, palliative, moderate, lenient, gentle, mild, mellow, cool, sober, temperate, reasonable, measured, tempered, calm, unruffled, quiet, tranquil, still, slow, smooth, untroubled, tame, peaceful, peaceable, pacific, halcyon, unexciting, unirritating, soft, bland, oily, demulcent, lenitive, anodyne, hypnotic, sedative, antiorgastic, anaphrodisiac, mild as mother's milk, milk and water, moderately, gingerly, piano, under easy sail, at half speed, within bounds, within compass, in reason, est modue in rebus, pour oil on troubled waters.

Courtesy

N courtesy, respect, good manners, good behavior, good breeding, manners, politeness, bienseance, urbanity, comity, gentility, breeding, polish, presence, civility, civilization, amenity, suavity, good temper, good humor, amiability, easy temper, complacency, soft tongue, mansuetude, condescension, affability, complaisance, pr_evenance, amability, gallantry, pink of politeness, pink of courtesy, compliment, fair words, soft words, sweet words, honeyed phrases, ceremonial salutation, reception, presentation, introduction, accueil, greeting, recognition, welcome, abord, respects, devoir, regards, remembrances, kind regards, kind remembrances, love, best love, duty, empty encomium, flattering remark, hollow commendation, salaams, obeisance, bow, courtesy, curtsy, scrape, salaam, kotow, kowtow, bowing and scraping, kneeling, genuflection, obsequiousness, capping, shaking hands grip of the hand, embrace, hug, squeeze, accolade, loving cup, vin d'honneur, pledge, love token, kiss, buss, salute, mark of recognition, nod, nods and becks and wreathed smiles, valediction, condolence, courteous, polite, civil, mannerly, urbane, well-behaved, well- mannered, well-bred, well-brought up, good-mannered, polished, civilized, cultivated, refined, gentlemanlike, gallant, on one's good behavior, fine spoken, fair spoken, soft-spoken, honey-mouthed, honey- tongued, oily, bland, obliging, conciliatory, complaisant, complacent, obsequious, ingratiating, winning, gentle, mild, good-humored, cordial, gracious, affable, familiar, neighborly, diplomatic, tactful, politic, artful, courteously, with a good grace, with open arms, with outstretched arms, a bras ouverts, suaviter in modo, in good humor, Int, hail!, welcome!, well met!, ave!, all hail!, good day, good morrow!, Godspeed!, pax vobiscum!, may your shadow never be less!, Tien de plus estimable que la ceremonie, the very pink of courtesy.

Heat

N heat, caloric, temperature, warmth, fervor, calidity, incalescence, incandescence, glow, flush, fever, hectic, phlogiston, fire, spark, scintillation, flash, flame, blaze, bonfire, firework, pyrotechnics, pyrotechny, wildfire, sheet of fire, lambent flame, devouring element, adiathermancy, recalescence, summer, dog days, canicular days, baking, heat, white heat, tropical heat, Afric heat, Bengal heat, summer heat, blood heat, sirocco, simoom, broiling sun, insolation, warming, sun, pyrology, thermology, thermotics, thermodynamics, thermometer, calorie, gram-calorie, small calorie, kilocalorie, kilogram calorie, large calorie, British Thermal Unit, B, T, U, therm, quad, degrees Kelvin, kelvins, degrees centigrade, degrees Celsius, degrees Fahrenheit, hot, warm, mild, genial, tepid, lukewarm, unfrozen, thermal, thermic, calorific, fervent, fervid, ardent, aglow, sunny, torrid, tropical, estival, canicular, steamy, close, sultry, stifling, stuffy, suffocating, oppressive, reeking, baking, red hot, white hot, smoking hot, burning, hot, piping hot, like a furnace, like an oven, burning, hot as fire, hot as pepper, hot enough to roast an ox, hot enough to boil an egg, fiery, incandescent, incalescent, candent, ebullient, glowing, smoking, live, on fire, dazzling, in flames, blazing, in a blaze, alight, afire, ablaze, unquenched, unextinguished, smoldering, in a heat, in a glow, in a fever, in a perspiration, in a sweat, sudorific, sweltering, sweltered, blood hot, blood warm, warm as a toast, warm as wool, volcanic, plutonic, igneous, isothermal, isothermic, isotheral, not a breath of air, whirlwinds of tempestuous fire.

Insipidity

N insipidity, blandness, tastelessness, bland, void of taste, insipid, tasteless, gustless, savorless, ingustible, mawkish, milk and water, weak, stale, flat, vapid, fade, wishy-washy, mild, untasted.