middle distance

noun

Also called middle ground, middle plane. Fine Arts. the represented space between the foreground and background in paintings, drawings, etc.

(in track) a race distance ranging from 400 meters or 440 yards to 1 mile.

Nearby words

middle comedy, middle common room, middle congo, middle constrictor muscle of pharynx, middle cuneiform bone, middle distance, middle dutch, middle ear, middle east, middle eastern, middle eight

Origin of middle distance

First recorded in 1805–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for middle-distance

Hamilton competed in middle-distance running at the Games in 1992, 1996, and 2000 but never scored a medal.
A Peek at Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton’s Escort Service|Eliza Shapiro|December 22, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Kipketer currently holds eight of the 17 all-time fastest 800m times, a middle-distance track event.
What Makes a Great Olympian? Sometimes It’s Genetics|Jon Entine|August 11, 2012|DAILY BEAST
We need a middle-distance man and some one who knows something about pole vaulting.
For the Honor of the School|Ralph Henry Barbour
When Peets lets drive something about 'sky effects,' an' 'fore-grounds,' an' 'middle-distance,' we stacks in all sim'lar.
Faro Nell and Her Friends|Alfred Henry Lewis

In the middle-distance, Mrs. Payson was approaching with a cup of nourishing beef-tea.
Stanford Stories|Charles K. Field
These figures must be in the foreground, and the rest in the middle-distance or in the back-ground.
The Author's Craft|Arnold Bennett

British Dictionary definitions for middle-distance

middle-distance

adjective

athletics relating to or denoting races of a length between the sprints and the distance events, esp the 800 metres and the 1500 metres

noun middle distance

Also called: middle ground part of a painting, esp a landscape between the foreground and far distance

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