middle distance
noun
the represented space between the foreground and background in paintings, drawings, etc.
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middle distance
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middle-distance
middle-distanceadjectiveathletics relating to or denoting races of a length between the sprints and the distance events, esp the 800 metres and the 1500 metres
middle distance
Americannoun
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Also called middle plane, middle ground. Fine Arts. the represented space between the foreground and background in paintings, drawings, etc.
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(in track) a race distance ranging from 400 meters or 440 yards to 1 mile.
middle-distance
British
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of middle distance
First recorded in 1805–15
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
To the left and right, a dense forest frames the scene, while farther off, in the middle distance, a few lonely plantations and houses can barely be made out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
Through the windows, huge grey clouds rose in the middle distance.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2025
Everything else resides in a permanently fuzzy, unsettled background, a constant middle distance that traps the characters in their spiritual purgatory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2025
After hearing the bad news, Mr. Hill walks in a daze on the ship’s deck, eyes lost in the middle distance, the official regalia of his captain’s outfit rendered absurd.
From New York Times ● May 5, 2024
All burst in the air before reaching her coach, the pieces of metal falling harmlessly in the middle distance.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Comparisons were drawn to British middle-distance greats Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram as Burgin broke through - doing so at the same time as Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2025
In fact, several forces that were at work when Nuguse and Ingebrigtsen raced have been electrifying all of middle-distance running.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2025
This generation of milers is also supremely talented, of course, forming a new golden age of middle-distance running.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2025
A middle-distance runner, Rahul had previously competed in the 1500m himself.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2025
There is nothing that so incenses a friendly nature as a family grouped in the middle-distance offering advice when a telephone conversation is going on.
From Life's Minor Collisions by Frances Lester Warner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
