This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
middling
[ mid-ling ]
/ ˈmɪd lɪŋ /
Save This Word!
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
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.
QUIZ
THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?
Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.
Question 1 of 7
In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…
Origin of middling
OTHER WORDS FROM middling
mid·dling·ly, adverbWords nearby middling
Middle Western, Middle Westerner, middle white, middle years, middle youth, middling, middlings, Middx, middy, middy blouse, Mideast
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, adverbWord 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.