Word.ws English Dictionary

middle-finger

middle-finger verb: to show the middle finger (an obscene gesture directed towards another as an insult) to (someone or something).

Verb

middle-finger (third-person singular simple present middle-fingers, present participle middle-fingering, simple past and past participle middle-fingered)

  1. (slang, transitive, uncommon) To show the middle finger (an obscene gesture directed towards another as an insult) to (someone or something).
    • Gingrich, in effect, has middle-fingered his pal, Limbaugh, by "faking" a more friendly image. It's obvious Newtee is attempting to "buy" women's emotions, and if it were more obvious, it'd be a stain on your eyeball! BUT REMEMBER .. a leopard can't change its spots, and Newtee's spots are more...1997 March 12, GrandBlu 2, “Gingrich 2 Limbaugh:"Screw you, it's bipartisan I'll be!"”, in alt.fan.rush-limbaugh (Usenet), archived from the original on 31 May 2026
    • “Outta the way, dipstick.” He middle-fingered the driver of a Mazda, who was hogging the passing lane, then zipped past, horn blaring, fist raised.2000, Douglas H. Young, chapter 45, in Downsized-Upsized: A Novel, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: New Directions Publishing House, →ISBN, page 311

Examples of middle-finger in a sentence

  • Gingrich, in effect, has middle-fingered his pal, Limbaugh, by "faking" a more friendly image.1997 March 12, GrandBlu 2, “Gingrich 2 Limbaugh:"Screw you, it's bipartisan I'll be!"”, in alt.fan.rush-limbaugh (Usenet), archived from...
  • A couple of young lads eyed them venomously and middle-fingered the car.2019, Nick Oldham, chapter 14, in Wildfire (A Henry Christie Thriller; 26), London: Severn House Publishers, published 2020, →ISBN:
  • Ok, screw off, middle-fingered the screen and went my way.2026 February 11, u/TooCareless2Care, r/BadRPerStories (Reddit post), archived from the original on 31 May 2026:

Forms of middle-finger

third-person singular presentmiddle-fingers
present participlemiddle-fingering
past participlemiddle-fingered
pastmiddle-fingered

Origin of middle-finger

Denominal verb of middle finger.

Questions about middle-finger

What does middle-finger mean?
Middle-finger means to show the middle finger (an obscene gesture directed towards another as an insult) to (someone or something).
How do you use middle-finger in a sentence?
Gingrich, in effect, has middle-fingered his pal, Limbaugh, by "faking" a more friendly image.
What part of speech is middle-finger?
Middle-finger is a verb.
What is the past tense of middle-finger?
The past tense of middle-finger is middle-fingered.

Words near middle-finger in the dictionary

  1. Middle-earther
  2. Middle-earthers
  3. Middle-earthian
  4. Middle-earthians
  5. middle-end
  6. middle-finger
  7. middle-fingered
  8. middle-fingering
  9. middle-fingers
  10. middle-ground
  11. middle-grounder

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: middle-finger (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:

Cite this entry: “middle-finger.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/middle-finger. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.