in medias res

[ in -me-di-ahs -res; English in -mee-dee-uhs -reez, in -mey-dee-ahs -reys ]

/ ɪn ˈmɛ dɪˌɑs ˈrɛs; English ɪn ˈmi diˌəs ˈriz, ɪn ˈmeɪ diˌɑs ˈreɪs /

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adverb Latin.

in the middle of things.

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Words nearby in medias res

in love, in luck, inly, inlying, inmate, in medias res, in mem., in memoriam, in memory of, inmesh, in-migrant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use in medias res in a sentence

This is a guy who has his son-in-law clean his eyeglasses, for crying out loud.
Will Chris Christie Regret His Cowboy Hug?|Matt Lewis|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Her travel clique has been known to arrive at an airport, bags packed, passport-in-hand, within hours of spotting a deal.
‘We Out Here’: Inside the New Black Travel Movement|Charlise Ferguson|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Earl Spencer adds, “Effectively, my great-grandfather sold his children to his father-in-law.”
The Real-Life ‘Downton’ Millionairesses Who Changed Britain|Tim Teeman|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The lack of a gun is not likely to be a major problem for close-in air-to-air dogfights against other jets.
New U.S. Stealth Jet Can’t Fire Its Gun Until 2019|Dave Majumdar|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST

But those weapons are of limited utility, especially during close-in fights.
New U.S. Stealth Jet Can’t Fire Its Gun Until 2019|Dave Majumdar|December 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Such throats are trying, are they not?In case one catches cold; Ah, yes!
Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I (of 17)|Various
The commander-in-chief still kept him attached to the headquarter staff, and constantly employed him on special service.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison
So far Murat had always held subordinate commands; his great ambition was to become the commander-in-chief of an independent army.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison
Their jurisdictions overlapped and the Gascon would play second fiddle to no one save to his great brother-in-law.
Napoleon's Marshals|R. P. Dunn-Pattison
But the novel disappeared under the clothes with amazing celerity as the voice of her sister-in-law demanded admission.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills

British Dictionary definitions for in medias res

in medias res

/ Latin (ɪn ˈmiːdɪˌæs ˈreɪs) /

in or into the middle of events or a narrative

Word Origin for in medias res

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

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

Cultural definitions for in medias res

in medias res

[ (in may-dee-uhs, mee-dee-uhs rays) ]

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.”