in medias res

American  

[in me-di-ahs res, in mee-dee-uhs reez, in may-dee-ahs rays] / ɪn ˈmɛ dɪˌɑs ˈrɛs, ɪn ˈmi diˌəs ˈriz, ɪn ˈmeɪ diˌɑs ˈreɪs /

adverb

Latin.

1. in the middle of things.

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in medias res British  

/ ɪn ˈmiːdɪˌæs ˈreɪs /

1. in or into the middle of events or a narrative

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in medias res Cultural  

1. In the middle of the action. Epics often begin in medias res. For example, the Odyssey, which tells the story of the wanderings of the hero Odysseus, begins almost at the end of his wanderings, just before his arrival home. In medias res is a Latin phrase used by the poet Horace; it means “in the middle of things.”

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Etymology

Origin of in medias res

literally: into the midst of things, taken from a passage in Horace's Ars Poetica

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

in medias res

We begin in medias res as the unnamed author frets about his choice to begin at chapter 13 rather than the more traditional chapter 1.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

Nevertheless, if you’re exhausted with voiceover exposition, you’re probably also over in medias res openers, i.e. starting with a scene from the middle of the story before flashing back to the beginning.

From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2025

We have sailed through a mystical membrane between present and past and been deposited in the ancient world of Pericles in medias res.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 10, 2019

Cooper Barrett,” from the writer Jay Lacopo, loads itself up with narrative gimmicks: an in medias res opening, time jumps between 2011 and 2015, copious fourth-wall-breaking.

From New York Times ● Jan. 1, 2016

The first stroke of the artist places the auditor in medias res.

From Unwritten Literature of Hawaii The Sacred Songs of the Hula by Nathaniel Bright Emerson