in-between

American  

[in-bi-tween] / ˌɪn bɪˈtwin /

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 British  

adjective

1. intermediate

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

---

noun

1. an intermediate person or thing

in between Idioms  

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

---

Other Word Forms

• in-betweenness noun

Etymology

Origin of in-between

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

"There were moments people didn't understand... every step, story and silence in-between brought me to this moment," the Surrey-born rapper said while accepting the award.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

There is an in-between — and no rule that says you can’t travel there with a little cream, a little cheese, a little butter pooling at the bottom of the pan.

From Salon • Feb. 18, 2026

Her team directly tested those "in-between" stretches in human astrocytes and showed which enhancers truly control key brain genes.

From Science Daily • Dec. 19, 2025

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.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2025

It was the in-between time, before day leaves and night comes, a time I’ve never been partial to because of the sadness that lingers in the space between going and coming.

From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd