/mod'euh ray"sheuhn/ , n.
1. the quality of being moderate; restraint; avoidance of extremes or excesses; temperance.
2. the act of moderating.
3. moderations , Brit. the first public examinations at Oxford University for the B.A. degree in mathematics or in classics.
4. in moderation , without excess; moderately; temperately: to drink in moderation.
[ 1375-1425; late ME moderacion moderation- (s. of moderatio ). See MODERATE, -ION ]