middling

[mid-ling]

adjective

1. medium, moderate, or average in size, quantity, or quality.

   The returns on such a large investment may be only middling.

2. mediocre; ordinary; commonplace; pedestrian.

   The restaurant's entrées are no better than middling.

3. Older Use.,  in fairly good health.

adverb

1. moderately; fairly.

noun

1. middlings, any of various products or commodities of intermediate quality, grade, size, etc., as the coarser particles of ground wheat mingled with bran.

2. Also called middling meat. Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S.,  Often middlings salt pork or smoked side meat.

middling

/ ˈmɪdlɪŋ /

adjective

1. mediocre in quality, size, etc; neither good nor bad, esp in health (often in the phrase fair to middling )

adverb

1. informal,  moderately

   middling well

Other Word Forms

• middlingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of middling¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English (north) medlinge (present participle) “coming between, middle”; mid ¹, -ling ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of middling¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

see fair to middling.

Example Sentences

A source told BBC Sport that in his early years at Chelsea, George was a 'middling' player in his age group until around the age of 10.

From BBC

The Dodgers are still the defending World Series champions, even if their recent middling form has complicated their title defense.

From Los Angeles Times

The Anthony Mackie-led “Captain America: Brave New World” received middling reviews from critics and brought in about $415 million in global box office revenue.

From Los Angeles Times

It took years to get the program off the ground, and it didn’t ultimately run until 2019 through 2024 — when the state was dealing with yet another drought — to somewhat middling results.

From Los Angeles Times

Sometimes, a middling verdict can be more of an insult, and the Trib’s critic points to Carmy’s “chaos” menu as the problem.

From Salon

Related Words

• mediocre 
• passable 
• run-of-the-mill 
• so-so