in-between

[in-bi-tween]

noun

1. a person or thing that is between two extremes, two contrasting conditions, etc..

   yeses, noes, and in-betweens; a tournament for professional, amateur, and in-between.

2. a person who handles the intermediary steps, as in a manufacturing or sales process.

adjective

1. being between one thing, condition, etc., and another.

   a coat for in-between weather.

in-between

adjective

1. intermediate

   he's at the in-between stage, neither a child nor an adult

noun

1. an intermediate person or thing

Other Word Forms

• in-betweenness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of in-between¹

First recorded in 1805–15

Idioms and Phrases

In an intermediate situation, as in My roommates disagreed and I was caught in between. [Late 1500s]

Example Sentences

“Dead, alive. It’s hard to say. Those magic animals are kind of in-between to start with.”

Read more on Literature

The paupers’ food line was still there, queuing up patiently around the side of the palace: the young, the old, the in-between, all just as hungry and downtrodden as ever.

Read more on Literature

It’s all highlights and lowlights, rarely interested in the in-between stuff that makes watching all the rounds of a bout so necessary to appreciating what it means to survive on the canvas.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

We are in our own little in-between place—not home, not at work.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Being “in-between” was a problem for the Dodgers late in the season, when they ranked just 12th in the majors in scoring after the All-Star break.

Read more on Los Angeles Times