middling
Syllables: mid·dl·ing/ˈmɪdlɪŋ/US/ˈmɪd(ə)lɪŋ/
middling adjective: of intermediate or average size, position, or quality; mediocre.
Adjective
middling (comparative more middling, superlative most middling)
- Of intermediate or average size, position, or quality; mediocre.
- The football team is never the worst or best in its league; its position is always middling.
- […] I cannot think it unreaſonable, […] to imagin the ſame natural cauſes may ſometimes act in t'other extreme likewiſe, and model Humane Bodies from a peculiar Energy in the ſeminal Principles, or a more perfect and through concoction in the Stomach, and other Viſcera, whence may proceed a...1700 February, Thomas Molyneux, “II. An Essay Concerning Giants. Occasioned by Some Further Remarks on the Large Humane Os Frontis, or Forehead-bone, Mentioned in the Philosophical Transactions of...
- Synonyms:
- average, medium, unexceptional, comme ci comme ça, crappy, moderate, decent, indifferent, lackluster, meh
- In fairly good health.
- I am in a middling Way, between Healthy and Sick, hardly ever without a little Giddineſs or Deafneſs, and ſometimes both: So much for that.1728 September 18, [Jonathan] Swift, “[Letters on Several Occasions.] Letter XXIII. To the Same [Dr. Thomas Sheridan].”, in Miscellanies, 4th edition, volume XIII, London: Printed for R[obert]...
- “And how’s that chest of yours?” demanded Mrs. Morel. / He smiled again, with his blue eyes rather sunny. / “Oh, it’s very middlin’,” he said.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Strife in Love”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part II, page 200
Adverb
middling (comparative more middling, superlative most middling)
- Fairly, moderately, somewhat.
- St. Jerom ſeated, a middling ſized upright plate, from J. Palma, dated 1596. I think this is one of the fineſt prints by this great maſter. The drawing is admirable, and the engraving is executed with the utmoſt freedom.1785, Joseph Strutt, “HENRY GOLTZIUS”, in A Biographical Dictionary; Containing an Historical Account of All the Engravers, from the Earliest Period of the Art of Engraving to the Present Time; and a...
- Iwami, otherwise Sekisju, is two days journey long, going from ſouth to north, a middling good country, producing plenty of cannib, and affording ſome ſalt.1811, Engelbert Kempfer [i.e., Engelbert Kaempfer]; J[ohann] G[aspar] Scheuchzer, transl., “The Division and Sub-division of the Empire of Japan into Its Several Provinces; as also of Its Revenue and...
- Not too badly, with modest success.
Noun
middling (plural middlings)
- Something of intermediate or average size, position, or quality.
- Middlings are less likely to adopt worker commitment than are Leaders, but the two groups are equally likely to adopt organisational responsibility. […] Middlings have not been able to effectively implement innovative environmental programmes and proactive social programmes.2014, Annachiara Longoni, “Organisational Responsibility and Worker Commitment: The Definition and Implementation of Sustainable Operations Strategies”, in Sustainable Operations Strategies: The...
- Preceded by the: people of moderate means; members of the middle class.
- The war had been significantly financed by the poor and the middling, who purchased bonds that quickly devalued from wartime inflation; debt speculators had bought much of this debt at a fraction of the original cost.2014, Ed White, “The Shays Rebellion in Literary History”, in Andrew Lawson, editor, Class and the Making of American Literature: Created Unequal (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on...
middling meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
middling in Hindi
- middling, mediocre, intermediate
- बैन-बैन bain-bain
middling in Tamil
- நட்டாமுட்டி, அடிப்படை பருத்தித் தரம்
middling in Urdu
- مدھم, متوسط
middling in Malayalam
- normal, average, standad
- മദ്ധ്യമം, ഇടത്തരം, ഒരുവിധം നല്ല, ശരാശരി, സാമാന്യമായ, ശരാശരിനിലവാരത്തിലുള്ള
Examples of middling in a sentence
- All this is undoubtedly compatible with mediocrity, like every other profession; one can also be a middling poet, a middling orator, a middling author; but this done with genius is sublime.1853 January 1, “Parallel Passages”, in E[liakim] Littell, editor, Littell’s Living Age, volume XXXVI, number 450, Boston, Mass.: E....
- Yet there he [Samuel Richardson] is, plump, prosaic, the most middling of middling men, and so domestically fussy that even his gift of weeping hardly guarantees that he will be a major figure.1946, V[ictor] S[awdon] Pritchett, “Clarissa”, in The Living Novel, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: Reynal &...
- Rather, [Thomas] Holcroft uses his experiences as fooder while claiming the status of an "author" just as more middling writers did.2012, Miriam L. Wallace, A. A. Markley, “Introduction”, in Miriam L. Wallane, A. A. Markley, editors, Re-viewing Thomas Holcroft...
- Despite its middling record, [Sam] Altman would also emerge from Loopt much better off than he’d started.2025, Karen Hao, Empire of AI, New York City: Penguin Press, →ISBN:
Synonyms of middling
15 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of middling
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more middling |
| superlative | most middling |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more middling |
| superlative | most middling |
| Noun | |
| plural | middlings |
Origin of middling
The noun is probably from middle (noun) + -ing; the adjective is most likely derived from the noun, and the adverb from the adjective.
Words formed from middling
Phrases with middling
Questions about middling
- What does middling mean?
- Middling means of intermediate or average size, position, or quality; mediocre.
- What is middling in Hindi?
- Middling in Hindi is बैन-बैन (bain-bain). See Middling meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use middling in a sentence?
- All this is undoubtedly compatible with mediocrity, like every other profession; one can also be a middling poet, a middling orator, a middling author; but this done with genius is sublime.
- What part of speech is middling?
- Middling can be an adjective, an adverb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce middling?
- Middling is pronounced /ˈmɪdlɪŋ/ (UK).
Words near middling in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: middling (page history and authors); बैन-बैन (Hindi) (page history and authors); middling (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); middling (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); middling (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-middling.wav.
Cite this entry: “middling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/middling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.