mild

UK/ˈmaɪld/US/ˈmaɪld/

adjectiveB14 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,796 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: milder, mildest

Mild means gentle, not strong, nowhere near extreme. A mild winter you can get through in a jumper, a mild cheddar, a mild headache that goes away with a glass of water.

Watch the weather sense: a mild January is a warm one, not a cool one — mild always means less harsh than expected, and for winter that is warmer. In food it means the low end of heat or flavour: a mild curry, a mild mustard. About illness it means not serious, a mild case that clears in days. About people and words it means gentle rather than sharp: a mild-mannered neighbour, mild criticism, mild surprise. The adverb mildly turns up in the fixed phrase to put it mildly, which announces that the truth is a good deal stronger.

Definitions of mild

1adjectivetemperateWarmer and gentler than usual for the season.B1~43%
“January was unusually mild that year.”
synonyms: temperate
2adjectivestrongNot strong in taste, especially not spicy.B1~2%
“He orders the mild curry every single time.”
- Said"I'll have the mild one — I can't eat anything hot."
- WrittenThe curry was milder than he had feared, and he finished the whole plate.
- UsedMild cheddar: aged three months, smooth and creamy.
- ContrastMild, not weak. A mild sauce is gentle on purpose; weak tea just has too little in it. weak →
- SimplyThis food is not hot. It is mild.
Patterna mild curry / cheese / flavour · milder than · mild on the stomach · mildly spiced
3adjectivesevereNot severe; slight in its effect.B1~53%
“She had a mild case of flu and was back at work by Thursday.”
4adjectivemildGentle in manner, and slow to anger.B1~2%
“His mild reply surprised everyone in the room.”
- Said"He's much milder than his brother; I've never heard him raise his voice."
- WrittenA mild man, he ran the kitchen for thirty years without a single shout.
- UsedHire a mild manager for a nervous team.
- ContrastMild, not quiet. Quiet says little; mild says it gently and never loses its temper. quiet →
- Not thisA mild curry is another meaning, about taste. This mild is about how someone behaves.
- SimplyShe is mild. She is never angry.
Patterna mild man / manner / voice · mild-mannered · mildly · mildness
synonyms: gentle, placid

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 9 sentences found in the wild and placed 9 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

Remember it

MILd → as MILK

Mild as milk: a mild cheese, a mild winter, a mild man who never shouts — gentle, with nothing sharp in it.

hooks ontomilk

Phrases it lives in

to put it mildly — and that is an understatement — the truth is far stronger

Also practised as

Where it comes from

Old English milde came through Proto-Germanic *mildijaz from the Proto-Indo-European root *melh₂-, 'to beat, pound, grind'. Grinding a thing down makes it soft, and softness is where mild begins. Latin mollis, 'soft, gentle', grew out of the same idea, and German and Dutch still say mild to this day.

Proto-Indo-European
*melh₂-
Old English
milde
Middle English
milde
English, today
mild

From Middle English milde, from Old English milde. From Middle English milde, from Old English milde (“mild”), from Proto-Germanic mildijaz (“mild”), from Proto-Indo-European melh₂- (“to beat, pound, grind”). Cognate with Scots mild, myld (“mild”), stq milde (“mild”), West Frisian myld (“mild”), Dutch mild (“mild”), Low German milde (“mild”), German mild (“mild”), Danish -, Swedish - and Norwegian Bokmål mild (“mild”), Icelandic mildur (“mild”), Latin mollis (“soft, gentle”), Lithuanian malonus (“pleasing, pleasant, kind”), Old Norse mildr.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Adjectives

Practise this word

mild in the wild

A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning.
Concussion
Concussions are classified as mild traumatic brain injuries and are the most common type of TBIs.
Concussion
In mild cases, treatment focuses on treating pain.
Dengue fever
Symptoms are often mild, and each condition presents differently.
Neurofibromatosis
The climate is mild, being influenced by its distance from the continents and by the passing Gulf Stream.
Azores

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

mildew

Definitions of mild

1adjectivetemperateWarmer and gentler than usual for the season.B1~43%

“January was unusually mild that year.”

synonyms: temperate

2adjectivestrongNot strong in taste, especially not spicy.B1~2%

“He orders the mild curry every single time.”

Said"I'll have the mild one — I can't eat anything hot."
WrittenThe curry was milder than he had feared, and he finished the whole plate.
UsedMild cheddar: aged three months, smooth and creamy.
ContrastMild, not weak. A mild sauce is gentle on purpose; weak tea just has too little in it. weak →
SimplyThis food is not hot. It is mild.

Patterna mild curry / cheese / flavour · milder than · mild on the stomach · mildly spiced

3adjectivesevereNot severe; slight in its effect.B1~53%

“She had a mild case of flu and was back at work by Thursday.”

4adjectivemildGentle in manner, and slow to anger.B1~2%

“His mild reply surprised everyone in the room.”

Said"He's much milder than his brother; I've never heard him raise his voice."
WrittenA mild man, he ran the kitchen for thirty years without a single shout.
UsedHire a mild manager for a nervous team.
ContrastMild, not quiet. Quiet says little; mild says it gently and never loses its temper. quiet →
Not thisA mild curry is another meaning, about taste. This mild is about how someone behaves.
SimplyShe is mild. She is never angry.

Patterna mild man / manner / voice · mild-mannered · mildly · mildness

synonyms: gentle, placid

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 9 sentences found in the wild and placed 9 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.