mid

¹ American  

[mid] / mɪd /

adjective

1. being at or near the middle point of.

   We visited in mid autumn to catch the leaves at their best.

   The group was active in the mid 1890s.

2. being or occupying a middle place or position.

   These socks hit at the mid calf, making them good for wearing with boots.

   The bark mid trunk has been eaten away by insects.

3. Phonetics. (of a vowel) articulated with an opening above the tongue relatively intermediate between those for high and low: the vowels of beet, bet, and bot are respectively high, mid, and low.

4. Slang. mediocre, unimpressive, or disappointing.

   Everyone thinks that show is so great, but I've always thought it was mid.

   The shoes are really mid but the shirt is cute.

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noun

1. Archaic. the middle.

mid ² American  

[mid] / mɪd /

Or 'mid

preposition

1. amid.

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mid ³ American  

[mid] / mɪd /

noun

Informal.

1. a midshipman.

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mid- ⁴ American  

1. a combining form representing mid1 in compound words.

   midday; mid-Victorian.

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mid. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. middle.

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Mid. ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. Midshipman.

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M.I.D. ⁷ American  

abbreviation

1. Master of Industrial Design.

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mid ¹ British  

/ mɪd /

adjective

1. phonetics of, relating to, or denoting a vowel whose articulation lies approximately halfway between high and low, such as e in English bet

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noun

1. an archaic word for middle

Mid. ² British  

abbreviation

1. Midshipman

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mid ³ British  

/ mɪd /

preposition

1. a poetic word for amid

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mid. ⁴ British  

abbreviation

1. middle

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mid- ⁵ British  

combining form

1. indicating a middle part, point, time, or position

   midday

   mid-April

   mid-Victorian

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Etymology

Origin of mid¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English midd- (both an adjective and the initial element of a compound; modern spellings such as mid autumn are probably a reanalysis of the combining form mid- as an adjective); cognate with Old High German mitti, Old Norse mithr, Gothic midjis; akin to Greek mésos, méssos, méttos, Latin medius, Old Church Slavonic mežda “limit, border,” Old Irish mide, Sanskrit madhya “middle”; mid-

Origin of mid³

By shortening

Origin of mid-⁴

Middle English, Old English; mid ¹

Example Sentences

We even see the beginnings of a turnaround in the company’s business in mainland China, which grew by mid- to high-single digits in the latest quarter.

From Barron's

By mid-2025, 27 countries had bitcoin exposure, with 13 more pursuing legislation.

From MarketWatch

Up until the mid to late 1950s, Social Security records were stored manually or with electromechanical machines, including punched cards and early tabulating equipment.

From MarketWatch

The upbeat data suggests that aggressive cuts in interest rates since mid-2024 are finally starting to gain traction and lift the economy out of an extended period of gloom.

From The Wall Street Journal

Encouragingly, the stock is holding firm while consolidating in the mid-$40s, a much stronger showing than during the February to March and August pullbacks last year.

From Barron's

Related Words

• average
• boring
• dull
• mediocre
• middling