Moderates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To manage discussions or events while also lessening the severity of conflicts and serving as a mediator for opposing perspectives
2. Acting as an overseer of dialogues, one can temper intense situations and mediate between conflicting opinions
3. Leads or guides a conversation or gathering to ensure smooth progress ; lessens the force or degree of something to make it more balanced or mild

Etymology: The verb "moderates" is the third-person singular form of "moderate," which in its verb sense means to restrain, curb or regulate. Its roots go back to Latin "modus," meaning "a measure," the same source behind English "mode" and "modest." The Latin verb "moderari" grew from that idea of keeping things within a proper measure, so to moderate was originally to bring something into due proportion. English took the word through Middle English "moderat(e)," meaning "moderate" or "temperate," borrowed from Latin "moderatus." The verb arrived a little later, as Middle English "moderaten," which meant to restrain or curb, and in legal use to modify. Old English already had native words for the same notion, "gemetlic" and "metegian," but they were displaced by the Latin borrowing. The sense of acting as a mediator, someone who steers a heated discussion toward balance, grows naturally from that older idea of measure. The person who moderates a debate is keeping the exchange within proper bounds, tempering the heat so that opposing views can be heard.

Synonyms: facilitates, mediates, regulates, controls, calms

Antonyms: intensifies, exacerbates, aggravates, destabilizes, disrupts