Link Centre Dictionary

middling

midd·ling

UK/ˈmɪdlɪŋ/ US/ˈmɪdl̩ɪŋ/ uncommon uk

noun

1.

any commodity of intermediate quality or size (especially when coarse particles of ground wheat are mixed with bran)

adverb

1.

to a moderately sufficient extent or degree

  • “the shoes are priced reasonably”
  • “he is fairly clever with computers”
  • “they lived comfortably within reason”

adjective

1.

of no exceptional quality or ability

  • “a novel of average merit”
  • “only a fair performance of the sonata”
  • “in fair health”
  • “the caliber of the students has gone from mediocre to above average”
  • “the performance was middling at best”
Similar

Origin

The noun is probably from middle (noun) + -ing; the adjective is most likely derived from the noun, and the adverb from the adjective.

Phrases

  • fair to middling
  • middling sort

Related words

Broader terms

Pertaining to

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.