medial

[ mee-dee-uhl ]

See synonyms for: medial medials medially on Thesaurus.com

adjective

situated in or pertaining to the middle; median; intermediate.
pertaining to a mean or average; average.

ordinary.
Phonetics. within a word or syllable; neither initial nor final, as the t, a, and n in stand.
Entomology. pertaining to, involving, or situated near the media.

noun

Phonetics.
- a medial sound or letter.
- media² (def. 1).

Origin of medial

First recorded in 1560–70, medial is from the Late Latin word mediālis middle. See medium, -al¹

Other words from medial

me·di·al·ly, adverb
post·me·di·al, adjective
sub·me·di·al, adjective
sub·me·di·al·ly, adverb
su·per·me·di·al, adjective
su·per·me·di·al·ly, adverb

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

How to use medial in a sentence

For example, consider two events represented by different neurons in the medial temporal lobe that reliably follow one another, such as hearing “person” and then hearing “woman.”
Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV - Issue 93: Forerunners | Adithya Rajagopalan | December 2, 2020 | Nautilus
These signals tend to represent more complex concepts, allowing neurons in the medial temporal lobe to respond to rich features in the world.
Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV - Issue 93: Forerunners | Adithya Rajagopalan | December 2, 2020 | Nautilus
Recording neurons from a slightly different location in the medial temporal lobe might reveal what Quiroga believes is missing.
Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV - Issue 93: Forerunners | Adithya Rajagopalan | December 2, 2020 | Nautilus
Many neurons in the human medial temporal lobe have these “concept cells,” the behavior of which has yet to be observed in any other animal.
Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV - Issue 93: Forerunners | Adithya Rajagopalan | December 2, 2020 | Nautilus
This allows for a combined pattern of neural activity in the medial temporal lobe to represent a sequence—the word “person” followed by “woman.”
Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV - Issue 93: Forerunners | Adithya Rajagopalan | December 2, 2020 | Nautilus

The moderate-sized nasals are separated medially and in broad contact with the ethmoid posteriorly.
Systematic Status of a South American Frog, Allophryne ruthveni Gaige | John D. Lynch
The mentomecklians are ossified, but separated by cartilage medially.
Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Smilisca | William E. Duellman
The frontoparientals are sutured medially throughout their lengths; the frontoparietal fontanelle is absent.
The Systematics of the Frogs of the Hyla Rubra Group in Middle America | Juan R. Len
The dentary is an unornamented bone with the anterior half curving medially; the greatest height is anterior.
A New Genus of Pennsylvania Fish (Crossoperygii, Coelacanthiformes) from Kansas | Joan Echols
The ventral surface extends medially into a narrow shelf, approximately 1.0 mm.
A New Genus of Pennsylvania Fish (Crossoperygii, Coelacanthiformes) from Kansas | Joan Echols

British Dictionary definitions for medial

medial

/ (ˈmiːdɪəl) /

adjective

of or situated in the middle
ordinary or average in size

maths relating to an average
another word for median (def. 1), median (def. 2), median (def. 3)
zoology of or relating to a media

noun

phonetics a speech sound between being fortis and lenis; media

Origin of medial

C16: from Late Latin mediālis, from medius middle

Derived forms of medial

medially, adverb

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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