Please settle an argument between me and DP..... what does 'mild' mean?

[Limth]

You may be preventing a fucking divorce here, so please help by answering this question -

Question: If I said "It's milder today than it was yesterday", would you take that to mean:
A: Its warmer than it was yesterday
B: Its colder than yesterday

Very many thanks!

"Mild winter" means less severe winter weather. "Mild summer" means less severe summer weather. More pleasant weather. "Mild" isn't a temperature. It is contextual and often opinion based.

Mild to me means in the bearable temperature range. So if it has been very cold and warmed up I'd say mild. If it had been very hot and cooled down I'd say mild.

I think it means less extreme... So if we were coming out of a heat wave it would be cooler. But if it had been frosty, it would be warmer. Also, less windy/rainy.

Heading towards calmer more ambient weather from either direction.

Warmer.

If there was a high temperature yesterday, I’d say it is cooler today, not milder.

Warmer. In no respect can I see that 'milder' might mean 'colder'.

Maybe that is the root of the problem. If you've always heard it to mean that a curry is less hot, maybe it seems obvious that it means the weather is less hot.

I'll bet he is basing his definition of the word on his curry experiences.
So if its milder, it isn't as 'hot'.

Only logic I can think of as to why someone would think milder weather was colder!

Surely it depends on the previous day.
If it was cold yesterday , then milder means warmer.
If it was hot yesterday, then milder means colder.
i.e. less extreme.

A

This threads properly made me laugh. Me and husband have similar disagreements. The too cold for snow one practically raises his blood pressure

Warmer this time of year, cooler in summer.

Basically, a more comfortable temperature. If it was zero degrees yesterday, that means warmer, if it was 40 degrees, it means cooler.

Yes true, it does depend on context to an extent. Don't know why my mind automatically went to 'warmer'. But it certainly does not always mean cooler/colder, so he's definitely wrong.

It is more accurate to say it means less harsh/extreme.

In weather terms it means less harsh or severe, generally thought to be warmer.

With people it means calm, gentle as in "mild mannered reporter Clark Kent"!

If you're referring to the weather then I think you mean it's warmer

But if you were talking about food, a curry and you said it was 'milder than the one you had yesterday' I'd take that to mean it's cooler (less spicy)

Is the OP counting the votes? 😉

Warmer

Should have done a poll!

Then I’d say cooler….

According to the Cambridge dictionary, when speaking about weather milder means not very cold or not as cold as usual. In my mind that means warmer.
Milder meaning when to do with weather

It can be both.

The correct meaning of ‘milder’ is less extreme. So you can say it’s milder - not as cold. Milder - not as hot. Milder - not as windy.

Context is key.

So you’re both right, both wrong and he doesn’t have a pea brain.

If yesterday was very cold, milder means it's warmer today.
If yesterday was very hot, milder means it's cooler today.

Warmer!

Depends which country/season. Mild indicates mid-temp, so in a cold country, milder is warmer (ie. nearer to middle); in a hot country milder is colder.

Surely it depends what the weather was like yesterday, so the context is important.

A - warmer. To my mind,mild means less harsh.