middle

1 of 2

adjective

mid·dle ˈmi-dᵊl

: equally distant from the extremes : medial, central

the middle house in the row

: being at neither extreme : intermediate

capitalized

: constituting a division intermediate between those prior and later or upper and lower

Middle Paleozoic

: constituting a period of a language or literature intermediate between one called Old and one called New or Modern

Middle Dutch

of a verb form or voice : typically asserting that a person or thing both performs and is affected by the action represented

middle

2 of 2

noun

: a middle part, point, or position

: the central portion of the human body : waist

: the position of being among or in the midst of something

in the middle of the crowd

: something intermediate between extremes : mean

: the center of an offensive or defensive formation

especially : the area between the second baseman and the shortstop

Phrases

middle of nowhere

: an extremely remote and isolated place

ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere

Example Sentences

Adjective during the century's middle decades High temperatures today should be in the middle 80s. Franklin D. Roosevelt's middle initial stood for “Delano.” Noun A good essay will have a clear beginning, middle, and end. He stood exactly in the middle of the room. She opened the book to the middle and began to read. The car stopped in the middle of the road. The house should be finished by the middle of next summer. The beginning and ending of the movie were good, but the middle was pretty boring. She put her arms around his middle. He tied the sash around his middle. See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

The spike in fentanyl deaths among teens has touched all corners of the U.S., affected families and children across racial and class lines, and has risen to one of the top concerns for parents of middle and high schoolers.

Summer Lin, Anchorage Daily News, 13 Nov. 2022 The spike in fentanyl deaths among teens has touched all corners of the U.S., affected families and children across racial and class lines, and has risen to one of the top concerns for parents of middle and high schoolers.

Los Angeles Times, 12 Nov. 2022 In 2020, students and parents in Inner Mongolia staged mass school boycotts over a new policy that replaced the Mongolian language with Mandarin in elementary and middle schools.

Jessie Yeung, CNN, 11 Nov. 2022 This year’s Bold Performance Schools include 14 elementary, middle and high schools.

Lauren Lumpkin, Washington Post, 29 Oct. 2022 Those schools, which accept students from multiple districts, are among the best-performing elementary and middle schools in the state, according to results on the Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment exam.

Globe Columnist, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Oct. 2022 The designations are determined by multiple measures of performance, Matthews said, and for the state’s elementary and middle schools, the primary indicator — which accounts for 50% of the designation — is student growth.

Karen Ann Cullotta, Chicago Tribune, 12 Oct. 2022 Just over 9% of middle and high schoolers surveyed earlier this year reported currently using e-cigarettes, according to data published Thursday afternoon.

Nicholas Florko, STAT, 11 Oct. 2022 The initiative provides first-aid-type kits to classrooms and common areas in middle and high schools, and to give them training to help in a bleeding emergency before medics arrive on the scene.

Scott Luxor, Sun Sentinel, 7 Oct. 2022

Noun

The partisan crowd was seemingly almost all in Norse gear, with mostly gold apparel representing the Norse on hand and isolated fans in UC red gear in the middle of them.

James Weber, The Enquirer, 17 Nov. 2022 And with tickets for the pre-sale up for grabs in the middle of a school day, Williams wasn’t the only parent left with the job.

Leanne Italie, Chicago Tribune, 17 Nov. 2022 Although Castillo and Ali were in the middle of a divorce, it had not been finalized at the time of her death.

Los Angeles Times, 16 Nov. 2022 Who has time to get your nails done in the middle of all the Holiday chaos?

Tatjana Freund, ELLE, 16 Nov. 2022 Inside, the new Prius has a gauge screen in front of the driver, as in most cars, rather than in the middle of the dashboard as in past Prius models.

Peter Valdes-dapena, CNN, 16 Nov. 2022 In the rare instances when curly hair is showcased in the Korean media, women are often displayed as being unprofessional, unkept, or in the middle of a life crisis.

Jada Jackson, Allure, 16 Nov. 2022 Then, in the middle of the show’s run, Steve mysteriously left the kids’ juggernaut, handing over the emceeing duties to another actor, Donovan Patton, who played Joe, Steve’s little brother.

Selome Hailu, Variety, 16 Nov. 2022 In Montrose, the restaurant is close to the Texas Medical Center, and in the middle of a thriving restaurant-rich district.

Emma Balter, Chron, 16 Nov. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'middle.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.