middle
Americanadjective
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equally distant from the extremes or outer limits; central.
the middle point of a line; the middle singer in a trio.
- Synonyms:
- midway, medial, halfway, equidistant
- Antonyms:
- extreme
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intermediate or intervening.
the middle distance.
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medium or average.
a man of middle size.
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(initial capital letter) (in the history of a language) intermediate between periods classified as Old and New or Modern.
Middle English.
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Grammar. (in some languages) noting a voice of verb inflection in which the subject is represented as acting on or for itself, in contrast to the active voice in which the subject acts, and the passive voice in which the subject is acted upon, as in Greek, egrapsámēn “I wrote for myself,” égrapsa “I wrote,” egráphēn “I was written.”
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(often initial capital letter) noting the division intermediate between the upper and lower divisions of a period, system, or the like.
the Middle Devonian.
noun
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middles
plural
verb (used with or without object)
adjective
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equally distant from the ends or periphery of something; central
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intermediate in status, situation, etc
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located between the early and late parts of a series, time sequence, etc
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not extreme, esp in size; medium
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(esp in Greek and Sanskrit grammar) denoting a voice of verbs expressing reciprocal or reflexive action Compare active passive
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(usually capital) (of a language) intermediate between the earliest and the modern forms
Middle English
noun
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an area or point equal in distance from the ends or periphery or in time between the early and late parts
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an intermediate part or section, such as the waist
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grammar the middle voice
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logic See middle term
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the ground between rows of growing plants
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a discursive article in a journal, placed between the leading articles and the book reviews
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cricket a position on the batting creases in alignment with the middle stumps on which a batsman may take guard
verb
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to place in the middle
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nautical to fold in two
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football to return (the ball) from the wing to midfield
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cricket to hit (the ball) with the middle of the bat
Synonym Usage
Middle, center, midst indicate something from which two or more other things are (approximately or exactly) equally distant. Middle denotes, literally or figuratively, the point or part equidistant from or intermediate between extremes or limits in space or in time: the middle of a road. Center, a more precise word, is ordinarily applied to a point within circular, globular, or regular bodies, or wherever a similar exactness appears to exist: the center of the earth; it may also be used metaphorically (still suggesting the core of a sphere): center of interest. Midst usually suggests that a person or thing is closely surrounded or encompassed on all sides, especially by that which is thick or dense: the midst of a storm.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of middle
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English middel; cognate with German mittel; akin to Old Norse methal among. See mid 1
Explanation
The middle of something is its center, or the point where the two ends are the same distance away. If you're in the middle of a 26.2 mile marathon, you've reached the halfway mark, and you've run 13.1 miles. A middle part in your hair is in the center of your scalp, and the middle of a tennis court has a net for hitting the ball over. Middle also means "belly" or "abdomen," as in the middle part of a body, or "between an earlier and later time." Your middle name is usually the second of three names. If someone says, "Patience is my middle name," they mean that it's their most distinct or strong characteristic.
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:
Chalong then left the scene, and phoned a startled journalist he knew who was in the middle of a live broadcast on YouTube, to tell her what had happened.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
“And shutting down Diablo in the middle of all that was always going to be a stretch.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Spain's cherished tourist hotspot of Granada was in shock on Saturday after a rare 5.0-magnitude earthquake woke residents in the middle of the night and damaged buildings.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Students returning to a Kentucky middle school this year learned something surprising on their first day of class: They don’t live in Kentucky.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
They could work that way so supervisors could reach us in the middle of our workdays.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
We love the criminal trial for the same reason Shakespeare and Court TV loved them: Morality plays, gripping narratives, heroes and villains, and the story that begins and middles and ends.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2023
Women often gain weight quickly, or see it shift to their middles, as the body fights to hold onto the estrogen that abdominal fat cells produce.
From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2023
“We take to fiction, I suppose, because no such thing is going to happen, and at least on the printed page we can observe beginnings, middles and ends, and can find where morality resides.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 5, 2023
The middles were immense, they laid the platform - definitely at the start of the game.
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2022
Through the white carven carpet that had been High Street pushed four oxen, buried up to their middles, dragging behind them a heavy plow.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
Another dot next, middled to cover, then a single to square leg.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 25, 2016
Watson skims a drive through the covers for a couple; that's the first one he's vaguely middled.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 7, 2012
Khawaja middled the ball to mid-on, although he was not perfectly positioned.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 3, 2011
He showed fair judgment, and middled the ball very neatly to the Campbells and M'Call.
From Scottish Football Reminiscences and Sketches by David Drummond Bone
This lashing is middled, and passed opposite ways; when finished, the ends appear as if coiled round the crossings.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
Disney’s live-action “Mufasa: The Lion King” opened in 2024 to a middling $35 million, but ended up grossing more than $722 million globally through the holiday season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
What the Americans learned instead was that they could still be stopped in their tracks by a middling European side with its stars on the bench.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
The film opens Friday and has received middling reviews.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026
None of these middling elements would be particularly grating if it weren’t so apparent that “Cars” had an ulterior capitalist motive.
From Salon ● Jun. 6, 2026
“Doesn’t look to me like you do. And I have a middling name, too.”
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
