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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

C-grade en · ADJ

Etymology

From the "C" grade given to students who are not failing, but also not doing particularly well.

Meanings

  1. (informal, not-comparable, usually) Not very good; mediocre, mid.
    • Yet there's still a tang of C-grade cliché to a movie too obviously trying to pull off global intrigue on a low budget, with a surfeit of alpha-male posturing, hamfisted dialogue, and incessant gunfire ultimately failing to provide sufficient credibility (let alone production values). 2018 December 7, Dennis Harvey, “Film Review: 'All the Devil's Men'”, in Variety, Los Angeles, C.A.: Penske Media Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2023:
    • The basic problem with Yahoo was that it never figured out what kind of company it was after it was beaten out by Google. It never figured out how to be more than a C-grade version of Google. 2022 July 29, Linette Lopez, “It's official: Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner are smarter than Mark Zuckerberg”, in Business Insider, New York, N.Y.: Insider Inc., →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 May 2023:
    • […] Easter is April 20, and I have set an informal goal of having 50,000 words on paper by that date—not necessarily good words, mind you, just C-grade stuff that I can work with and refine during the revision process. 2014 June 12, Justin Peters, “Dispatches From Book Leave, Part 2”, in Slate, archived from the original on 14 Apr 2019:
    • Near-synonyms: second-rate, third-rate; see also Thesaurus:mediocre
    • But this is a return to the kind of C-grade cheapo actioneers that damaged his reputation in the first place. 2023 April 28, Richard Whittaker, “The Best Man”, in The Austin Chronicle, Austin, T.X.: The Austin Chronicle Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2023:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most C-grade Degree=Sup lexicographic
more C-grade Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Coordinates

A-grade · B-grade · D-grade · F-grade

Relateds

letter grade · C-level

Synonyms

tolerable · third-rate · pedestrian · okayish · indifferent · unexceptional · second-rate · ok-ok · lackluster · moderate · uninspiring · crappy · so-so · average · nothing to write home about · whatever · middling · ordinary · mediocre · meh · not worth writing home about · OK · mid · no great shakes · shitty · comme ci comme ça · decent