midst
1 Americannoun
-
the position of anything surrounded by other things or parts, or occurring in the middle of a period of time, course of action, etc..
a familiar face in the midst of the crowd;
in the midst of the performance.
-
the middle point, part, or stage.
We arrived in the midst of a storm.
idioms
preposition
noun
-
surrounded or enveloped by; at a point during, esp a climactic one
-
among us
-
archaic the centre
preposition
Synonym Usage
See middle.
Etymology
Origin of midst
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, equivalent to middes (aphetic variant of amiddes “in the middle”) + excrescent -t; see also amidst
Explanation
Midst describes something that's among, in the middle of, or surrounded by. After the school talent show, your principal said he didn't know there were so many gifted singers in our midst. Midst sounds a lot like mist, the fog that rolls in and can fill a place. Midst carries this same sense of being surrounded or placed in the middle of. It can be physical, like being in the midst of great athletes at the hockey game, or in regard to time, like the team captain breaking his foot in the midst of playoffs.
Vocabulary lists containing midst
Lesson 12
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Unit 3, Week 2
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Bye Forever, I Guess
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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.
Southern, which also operates electric utilities in Alabama and Mississippi, is in the midst of its largest-ever transmission expansion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Jaissle admitted Newcastle are lacking belief in the midst of their miserable run.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
It liquidates portfolios in the midst of a stock-market correction.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
In the midst of the barnstorming action, the victors had three bad snaps on extra points and 18 penalties, including six personal foul calls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
In the midst of them was a cart, a long leiter-wagon which swept from side to side, like a dog’s tail wagging, with each stern inequality of the road.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
