Link Centre Dictionary

middle

UK/ˈmɪdl̩/ US/ˈmɪ.dəɫ/ very common
noun (4) adjective (4) verb (1)

noun

1.

an area that is approximately central within some larger region

  • “it is in the center of town”
  • “they ran forward into the heart of the struggle”
  • “they were in the eye of the storm”
Synonyms
2.

an intermediate part or section

  • “A whole is that which has beginning, middle, and end” Aristotle
Antonyms
3.

the middle area of the human torso (usually in front)

  • “young American women believe that a bare midriff is fashionable”
Synonyms
4.

time between the beginning and the end of a temporal period

  • “the middle of the war”
  • “rain during the middle of April”
Antonyms

adjective

1.

being neither at the beginning nor at the end in a series

  • “adolescence is an awkward in-between age”
  • “in a mediate position”
  • “the middle point on a line”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

equally distant from the extremes

Synonyms
Similar
3.

of a stage in the development of a language or literature between earlier and later stages

  • “Middle English is the English language from about 1100 to 1500”
  • “Middle Gaelic”
Antonyms
4.

between an earlier and a later period of time

  • “in the middle years”
  • “in his middle thirties”
Antonyms
Similar

verb

1.

put in the middle

Origin

From Middle English myddel, middel, from Old English middel (“middle, centre, waist”), from Proto-Germanic *midlą, *midilą, *medalą (“middle”), a diminutive of Proto-Germanic *midjō (“middle, midst”) (compare *midjaz (“mid, middle”, adjective)), from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“between, in the middle, middle”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Middel (“middle”), West Frisian mul (“middle”), Dutch middel (“means; medicine, cure”), German mittel (“middle”, adjective), Mittel (“means; medicament, remedy”, noun), Luxembourgish Mëttel (“means, method; medicament”), Vilamovian mytuł (“middle”), Yiddish מיטל (mitl, “middle”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk middel (“means”), Icelandic meðal (“average; means, medicine”), Swedish medel (“average, mean, middle”). See also mid.

Phrases

  • Hartington Middle Quarter Geographical names
  • Llangynwyd Middle Geographical names
  • Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove Geographical names
  • Middle America Geographical names
  • Middle American Geographical names
  • Middle Arm Geographical names
  • Middle Babylonian Geographical names
  • Middleback Range Geographical names

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.