middleman

American  

[mid-l-man] / ˈmɪd lˌmæn /

noun

plural

middlemen

1. a person who plays an economic role intermediate between producer and retailer or consumer.

2. a person who acts as an intermediary.

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middleman British  

/ ˈmɪdəlˌmæn /

noun

1. an independent trader engaged in the distribution of goods from producer to consumer

2. an intermediary

3. theatre the interlocutor in minstrel shows

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Etymology

Origin of middleman

1400–50; late Middle English: maker of girdles; middle, man

Example Sentences

The plan includes a pledge to remove "kickbacks" to middlemen.

From BBC

He claimed in his essay for us that researchers at Harvard had found that “foreign producers and middlemen, including large corporations that are not from the U.S.” pay “at least 80% of tariff costs.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Although Starlink isn’t activated in Russia, a black market for user terminals sprung up with middlemen shipping them to Russian forces.

From The Wall Street Journal

If you buy from a company that manufactures its own mattresses, you can avoid the middleman problem in which the retailer and manufacturer each try to shift responsibility to the other.

From MarketWatch

The falling price of global crude compressed prices, but the decline was largely driven by a web of middlemen and buyers taking advantage of the regime’s precarious position and dependence on oil revenue.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• go-between
• mediator
• wholesaler