middle
UK/ˈmɪdl̩/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
General South African[ˈmɨdl̩]
middle noun: a centre, midpoint.
Noun
middle (plural middles)
- A centre, midpoint.
- The middle of a circle is the point which has the same distance to every point of circle.
- Synonyms:
- centre
- The part between the beginning and the end.
- I woke up in the middle of the night.
- In the middle of the marathon, David collapsed from fatigue.
- The middle stump.
- The central part of a human body; the waist.
- If I have a diet plan and stick to it, it is easy for me to have control over my middle.2012, Caroline Moore, Fasting In A Fast World
- The middle voice.
- the center of the political spectrum.
- As part of his successful re-election strategy, Clinton began governing from the middle.
- An essay on social or literary issues in a newspaper or magazine, originally placed between the leading articles and the reviews.
- ‘Did you see the Spec. had a middle on “Rural Tenacities” last week. That was all Huckley.’1913 (date written), Rudyard Kipling, “The Village that Voted the Earth was Flat”, in A Diversity of Creatures, London: Macmillan and Co., […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 171
Adjective
middle (no comparative, superlative middlemost or (colloquial, childish) middlest)
- Located in the middle; in between.
- the middle point
- middle name, Middle English, Middle Ages
- Central.
- Pertaining to the middle voice.
Verb
middle (third-person singular simple present middles, present participle middling, simple past and past participle middled)
- To take a middle view of.
- And now, to middle the matter between both, it is pity, that the man they favour has not that sort of merit which a person of a mind so delicate as that of Miss Harlowe might reasonably expect in a husband.1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXVII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn...
- To double (a rope) into two equal portions; to fold in the middle.
- To strike (the ball) with the middle portion of the face of the bat.
Proper noun capitalized: Middle
Middle
- A sheading of the Isle of Man.
middle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
middle in Hindi
- centre, midpoint
- मध्य madhya
- part between beginning and end
- मध्य madhya
- central part of human body
- धड़ dhaṛ
- located in the middle; in between
- माध्यमिक mādhyamik, बीच bīc
middle in Tamil
- centre, midpoint
- நடு naṭu
middle in Marathi
- middle, central
- मध्ये madhye
middle in Urdu
- centre, midpoint
- وسط vasat
More languagesFewer languages
- middle in Bengali
- মধ্য moddho
- middle in Telugu
- నడుము naḍumu, మధ్య madhya
- middle in Malayalam
- നടുക് naṭukŭ, മധ്യം madhyaṁ, അര ara
- middle in Kannada
- ನಡು, ನಡುವೆ, ಉತ್ತಣ, ನಟ್ಟೆ
- middle in Punjabi
- ਮੱਧ maddha
- middle in Gujarati
- મધ્ય madhya, વચલું vaclũ, વચ્ચેનું vaccenũ
- middle in Odia
- ମଝି majhi, ମଧ୍ୟ madhya
- middle in Sanskrit
- मध्य madhya
- middle in Sinhala
- මධ්යම madhyama
- middle in Assamese
- মাজ maz
- middle in Nepali
- बीच bīc, मध्य madhya
- middle in Pashto
- منځ manź, منځنی manźanay
- middle in Tagalog
- gitna
- middle in Arabic
- مُنْتَصَف muntaṣaf, وَسَط wasaṭ, مُتَوَسْط mutawasṭ, أَوْسَط ʔawsaṭ
- middle in Malay
- pusat, tengah
- middle in Indonesian
- tengah, pertengahan
- middle in Persian
- میان miyân, وسط vasat, کمر kamar, میانه miyâna, miyâne
- middle in Thai
- กลาง glaang
- middle in Vietnamese
- giữa, trung tâm
- middle in Myanmar
- အလယ် a.lai, လတ် lat
Examples of middle in a sentence
- In the UK, the highest social grade is A – upper middle class.
- My car died in the middle of the freeway this morning.
- The employment picture for the older middle class is not so good.
Synonyms of middle
Forms of middle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | middles |
| alternative form | myddle |
| Adjective | |
| superlative | middlemost |
| superlative childish (colloquial) | middlest |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | middles |
| present participle | middling |
| past participle | middled |
| past | middled |
Origin of middle
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.
Words formed from middle
- anteromiddle
- middlemost
- middleness
- middler
- middlescent
- middlesome
- middleware
- middlish
- Middle Aramaic
- Middle Armenian
- Middle Assamese
- Middle Bengali
- Middle Breton
- Middle Bulgarian
- Middle Chinese
- Middle Cornish
- Middle Czech
- Middle Danish
- Middle Dutch
- Middle Egyptian
- Late-
- Neo-
- Middle English
- Middle French
- Middle Frisian
- Middle Greek
- Middle High German
- Middle High
- Low German
- Middle Indo-Aryan
- Middle Iranian
- Middle Irish
- Middle Japanese
- Middle Kingdom
- Middle Korean
- Middle Latin
- Middle Low Franconian
- Middle Low German
- Middle Low Saxon
- Middle Malayalam
- Middle Mongol
- Middle Mongolian
- Middle Norse
- Middle Norwegian
- Middle Ottoman
- Middle Persian
- Middle Polish
- Middle Saxon
- Middle Scots
- Middle Tamil
- Middle Welsh
- diddle for middle
- down the middle
- knock someone into the middle of next week
- law of excluded middle
- man in the middle
- monkey in the middle
- mushy middle
- piggy in the middle
- play both sides against the middle
Phrases with middle
- middle C
- middle Cs
- middle age
- Middle Arm
- middle C's
- middle day
- middle dot
- middle ear
- Middle Gap
- middle leg
- middle man
- middle men
149 more phrasesFewer phrases
- middle rib
- middle toe
- middle way
- middle aged
- middle ages
- Middle Belt
- middle body
- middle brow
- Middle Cove
- middle dots
- middle ears
- Middle East
- Middle Flat
- middle game
- middle legs
- middle mile
- middle name
- middle note
- middle pair
- Middle Park
- middle part
- middle path
- middle ribs
- middle term
- middle toes
- middle verb
- middle ways
- Middle West
- middle aisle
- Middle Brook
- middle child
- middle class
- Middle Congo
- Middle Creek
- Middle Dural
- middle earth
- middle eight
- middle games
- middle guard
- middle miles
- Middle Mouse
- middle names
- middle notes
- Middle Ocean
- middle order
- middle pairs
- middle paths
- middle point
- middle power
- Middle River
- Middle Stoke
- middle stump
- middle terms
- middle tilde
- middle verbs
- middle voice
- middle watch
- Middle Watut
- Middle White
- middle youth
- middle bodies
- Middle Caicos
- middle course
- middle eights
- middle finger
- middle ground
- middle guards
- middle marker
- middle office
- middle orders
- Middle Pocket
- middle points
- middle powers
- middle school
- Middle States
- middle stumps
- Middle Tarwin
- Middle Temple
- middle tildes
- Middle Wallop
- Middle America
- middle article
- Middle Brother
- middle classes
- Middle Claydon
- middle college
- Middle Eastern
- Middle England
- middle fingers
- Middle Francia
- middle grounds
- Middle Harbour
- middle infield
- middle initial
- middle lamella
- middle manager
- middle markers
- middle offices
- middle passage
- middle phalanx
- Middle Rainton
- middle reaches
- middle schools
- Middle Village
- middle watcher
- middle watches
- missing middle
- Middle American
- middle articles
- Middle Cambrian
- middle children
- middle colleges
- middle distance
- Middle European
- Middle Falbrook
- middle hundreds
- middle infields
- middle latitude
- middle managers
- middle passages
- middle phalange
- middle position
- middle schooler
- middle splitter
- Middle Township
- High Middle Ages
- in the middle of
- Late Middle Ages
- Middle Americans
- middle childhood
- middle distances
- Middle Easterner
- Middle Englander
- Middle Franconia
- middle infielder
- Middle Lithuania
- middle phalanges
- middle schoolers
- middle splitters
- Middle Stone Age
- Early Middle Ages
- is my middle name
- Llangynwyd Middle
- men in the middle
- middle atmosphere
- Middle Babylonian
- Middle Easterners
- Middle Easternism
- Middle Easternize
Words that rhyme with middle
Questions about middle
- What does middle mean?
- Middle means a centre, midpoint.
- What is middle in Hindi?
- Middle in Hindi is मध्य (madhya), माध्यमिक (mādhyamik), धड़ (dhaṛ). See Middle meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is middle?
- Middle can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce middle?
- Middle is pronounced /ˈmɪdl̩/ (UK).
- What is the plural of middle?
- The plural of middle is middles.
Words near middle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: middle (page history and authors); Middle (page history and authors); मध्ये (Marathi) (page history and authors); middle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); මධ්යම (Sinhala) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-middle.ogg, en-au-middle.ogg.
Cite this entry: “middle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/middle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.