moderation

UK: /ˌmɒdəˈreɪʃ^ən/ US: /ˌmɑdəˈreɪʃən/ ,(mod′ə rā′shən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

mod•er•a•tion /ˌmɑdəˈreɪʃən/   n. [uncountable]

1. control, esp. over one's behavior or emotions:
   Moderation in eating should keep your weight down.
2. reduction or reducing;
   lessening:
   The drug brought some moderation of the pain.

Idioms

3. in moderation, within reasonable or sensible limits:
   Drinking in moderation will not affect his health.

See -mod-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

mod•er•a•tion  (mod′ə rā′shən), n. 

1. the quality of being moderate;
   restraint;
   avoidance of extremes or excesses;
   temperance.
2. the act of moderating.
3. British Terms moderations, the first public examinations at Oxford University for the B.A. degree in mathematics or in classics.
4. Idioms in moderation, without excess;
   moderately;
   temperately:
   to drink in moderation.

• Latin moderātiōn- (stem of moderātiō). See moderate, -ion
• late Middle English moderacion 1375–1425

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

moderation / ˌmɒdəˈreɪʃən/ noun

1. the state or an instance of being moderate; mildness; balance
2. the act of moderating
3. in moderation ⇒ within moderate or reasonable limits