middle
middle Lexical Profile
middle Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
At an equal distance from the extremities of something; central or intermediate in position, time, or order.
"Please place the heavy books on the middle shelf of the bookcase."
Intermediate in rank, quality, size, or social class; neither high nor low.
"The policy changes were designed to benefit middle earners across the country."
Denoting a historical stage in the development of a language between its earliest attested form and its modern form.
"Students in the literature seminar read Geoffrey Chaucer's works in the original Middle English."
• noun
The point or position at an equal distance from the sides, edges, or ends of something; the central part or point in time or space.
"A large oak table stood in the middle of the dining room."
A person's waist and abdomen; the midsection of the human body.
"He tied a sturdy leather belt snugly around his middle before lifting the crates."
An intermediate position or compromise between two opposing extremes.
"The negotiators worked tirelessly to find a sensible middle between the two proposals."
• verb
To strike the ball cleanly with the center of the bat (in cricket), or to kick or pass the ball into the center of the pitch (in soccer).
"The batter middled the delivery and sent the ball racing across the boundary."
To fold a rope, sail, or sheet of paper in half so that the two ends meet and the center point is found.
"The crew middled the heavy mooring line before coiling it neatly on the deck."
Word Nuance & Usage
As an adjective, 'middle' is used strictly attributively before a noun (e.g., 'the middle shelf') and cannot be used predicatively after a linking verb.
• Rhymes for middle
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'middel', of West Germanic origin and derived from the Proto-Germanic root '*midjaz' ('mid'), sharing an Indo-European root with Latin 'medius' and Greek 'mesos'.