so-so

From Middle English so so, from Old English swā swā, equivalent to so +‎ so. Compare Dutch zozo (“so-so”), German soso (“so-so”), Norwegian så som så (“so-so”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊˌsəʊ/, /ˌsəʊˈsəʊ/

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• Rhymes: -əʊ, -əʊsəʊ

so-so (not comparable)

1. (informal) Neither good nor bad; tolerable, passable, indifferent.

   The dessert was pretty good, but the meal was so-so.

   • 1765, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to Lord Clare, Dublin: […] W. Whitestone, […], published 1776, →OCLC, page 5:

     [I]n ſome Iriſh Houſes, vvhere things are ſo-ſo, / One Gammon of Bacon hangs up for a ſhow; […]

   • 1844, John Wilson, Essay on the Genius, and Character of Burns:

     He [Robert Burns] certainly wrote some so-so verses to the Tree of Liberty.

• (neither good nor bad): average, comme ci comme ça, fair, meh, mediocre, middling, lackluster, okay

so-so (not comparable)

1. (informal) Neither very well nor very poorly.

   He performed so-so during the tryouts, and the coach was undecided whether to add him to the team or not.

• (neither well nor poorly): blandly, indifferently, insipidly, moderately, passably

• Osos, Soos