middle term

British

noun

Also called: mean. middle. logic the term that appears in both the major and minor premises of a syllogism, but not in the conclusion

"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

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.

But stagnant employment has become a drag on the economy for at least the middle term.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026

Check the middle term to see if it is equivalent to , or , and it is.

From Textbooks • Sep. 23, 2020

In the ax2 + bx + c, the middle term has a variable, x, and its square, x2, is the variable part of the first term.

From Textbooks • May 6, 2020

We’ll work one now where the middle term is negative.

From Textbooks • Apr. 22, 2020

The first appearance is formed by the syllogism, which is based on the Logical system as starting-point, with Nature for the middle term which couples the Mind with it.

From Hegel's Philosophy of Mind by Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023