middle distance

American  

noun

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

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

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middle-distance British  

adjective

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

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noun

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

Etymology

Origin of middle distance

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

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

Their mothers sit silently at their beds, staring into the middle distance, clutching their infants to their breast, hoping what milk they have can deliver the salvation for which they yearn.

From BBC • Feb. 5, 2024

He stared into the middle distance and scrolled through his phone.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 26, 2023

Their faces were perfectly composed—but their eyes kept drifting to the children in the cart and then snapping off into the middle distance again as they recovered their discipline.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz