mid

[ mid ]

adjective

being at or near the middle point of: in mid autumn.
being or occupying a middle place or position: in the mid nineties of the last century.

Phonetics. (of a vowel) articulated with an opening above the tongue relatively intermediate between those for high and low: the vowels of beet, bet, and hot are respectively high, mid, and low.: Compare high (def. 23), low¹ (def. 30).

noun

Archaic. the middle.

Origin of mid

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English midd- (both an adjective and the initial element of a compound; modern spellings such as mid autumn are probably a reanalysis of the combining form mid- as an adjective); cognate with Old High German mitti, Old Norse mithr, Gothic midjis, Old Irish mide, Latin medius, Greek mésos, méssos, méttos, Sanskrit madhya “middle,” Old Church Slavonic mežda “limit, border”; see also mid-

Words Nearby mid

Other definitions for mid (2 of 7)

mid²

or 'mid

[ mid ]

preposition

amid.

Other definitions for mid (3 of 7)

mid³

[ mid ]

nounInformal.

a midshipman.

Origin of mid

By shortening

Other definitions for mid- (4 of 7)

mid-

a combining form representing mid1 in compound words: midday; mid-Victorian.

Origin of mid-

⁴

Middle English, Old English; see mid¹

Other definitions for mid. (5 of 7)

mid.

abbreviation

middle.

Other definitions for Mid. (6 of 7)

Mid.

abbreviation

Midshipman.

Other definitions for M.I.D. (7 of 7)

M.I.D.

abbreviation

Master of Industrial Design.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use mid in a sentence

In the mid-afternoon, Ramos and Liu were parked on Tomkins Avenue on a meal break.
In The Shadow of Murdered Cops | Michael Daly | December 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
But with the outbreak of hostilities in mid-2011, all festivities were thrust into the deep freeze.
In One Corner of Syria, Christmas Spirit Somehow Manages to Survive | Peter Schwartzstein | December 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Think of the embarrassing subway platform or mid-office “adjustment” debacles you could avoid!
Would You Pay $100 For a 50 Cent Bulge? Men’s Undies Get Expensive | James Joiner | December 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
And Asians also showed a shift toward the GOP in the mid-terms.
Time to Bring Back the Truman Democrats | Joel Kotkin | December 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
My bike ride that mid-October day starts like so many others.
You’re Never ‘Cured’ of an Eating Disorder | Carrie Arnold | December 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

We had now approached closely to the foot of the mountain-ranges, and their lofty summits were high above us in mid-air.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846 | Various
So they often occured mid-paragraph; here they have been moved to a more appropriate place.
Assimilative Memory | Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)
Monsieur Farival thought that Victor should have been taken out in mid-ocean in his earliest youth and drowned.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories | Kate Chopin
While she flitted into the next room to fetch a stamp, Mrs. Haughstone, her needles arrested in mid-air, looked steadily at Tom.
The Wave | Algernon Blackwood
It was a room without beauty, merely walls, repapered once every twenty years, and furniture of the mid-Victorian era.
The Doctor of Pimlico | William Le Queux

British Dictionary definitions for mid (1 of 5)

mid¹

/ (mɪd) /

adjective

phonetics of, relating to, or denoting a vowel whose articulation lies approximately halfway between high and low, such as e in English bet

noun

an archaic word for middle

Origin of mid

C12 midre (inflected form of midd, unattested); related to Old Norse mithr, Gothic midjis

British Dictionary definitions for mid (2 of 5)

mid²

'mid

/ (mɪd) /

preposition

a poetic word for amid

British Dictionary definitions for mid- (3 of 5)

mid-

combining form

indicating a middle part, point, time, or position: midday; mid-April; mid-Victorian

Origin of mid-

Old English; see middle, mid 1

British Dictionary definitions for mid. (4 of 5)

mid.

abbreviation for

middle

British Dictionary definitions for Mid. (5 of 5)

Mid.

abbreviation for

Midshipman

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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