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Moderately animated: at a moderately lively pace — livelier than modéré, calmer than animé.
Printed above the first system as a tempo heading, sometimes intensified (Très modérément animé), and in force until the next tempo word. The adverb modérément qualifies animé, so the heading reads as one idea.
A characteristically French compound: rather than naming a speed, it balances two qualities, motion and restraint. Chausson and his contemporaries use such headings to set a pulse that moves without urgency. If the balance matters, add a metronome mark; to adjust later, plus animé and retenu move it either way.
Chausson, Serres chaudes, Op. 24, “Fauves las”, voice, m. 1: the song is headed “Très modérément animé”, printed over both voice and piano.
Modérément animé is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
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