in the middle

phrase

: in a difficult, awkward, or unpleasant position

They were feuding and she didn't want to get caught in the middle.

Examples of in the middle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Later, Omar Marmoush failed to release Andy Robertson on the overlap, with Mohammed Kudus waiting unmarked for a ball in the middle. — Stuart James, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026

But for an audience to explode and roar their approval in the middle of a movie? — Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2026

The pasta—a hair clump of noodles in a soupy, sweetish tomato sauce—came in one of those parsimonious bowls with a small hollow in the middle and a rim as broad as Saturn’s rings. — Ruby Tandoh, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026

Xylitol falls somewhere in the middle, generally well-tolerated in small amounts but problematic in larger doses. — Lauren Panoff, Verywell Health, 6 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1928, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for in the middle

• diddle
• fiddle
• griddle
• riddle