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middling

[ mid-ling ]
/ ˈmɪd lɪŋ /
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adjective
medium, moderate, or average in size, quantity, or quality: The returns on such a large investment may be only middling.
mediocre; ordinary; commonplace; pedestrian: The restaurant's entrées are no better than middling.
Older Use. in fairly good health.
adverb
moderately; fairly.
noun
middlings, any of various products or commodities of intermediate quality, grade, size, etc., as the coarser particles of ground wheat mingled with bran.
Often middlings .Also called middling meat .Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. salt pork or smoked side meat.
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Origin of middling

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English (north) medlinge (present participle) “coming between, middle”; see also mid1, -ling2

OTHER WORDS FROM middling

mid·dling·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use middling in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for middling

middling
/ (ˈmɪdlɪŋ) /

adjective
mediocre in quality, size, etc; neither good nor bad, esp in health (often in the phrase fair to middling)
adverb
informal moderatelymiddling well

Derived forms of middling

middlingly, adverb

Word Origin for middling

C15 (northern English and Scottish): from mid 1 + -ling ²
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

Other Idioms and Phrases with middling

middling

see fair to middling.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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