Word.ws English Dictionary

monkey in the middle

monkey in the middle noun: a children's game in which two players keep an object away from a third player (who is in between them) by throwing it past that player.

Noun

monkey in the middle (countable and uncountable, plural monkeys in the middle)

  1. (uncountable, children's games) A children's game in which two players keep an object away from a third player (who is in between them) by throwing it past that player.
  2. (countable) The third player in that game.
  3. (broadly, countable, figuratively) A middleman, particularly in a difficult spot or situation.

Synonyms of monkey in the middle

Forms of monkey in the middle

pluralmonkeys in the middle

Questions about monkey in the middle

What does monkey in the middle mean?
Monkey in the middle means a children's game in which two players keep an object away from a third player (who is in between them) by throwing it past that player.
What part of speech is monkey in the middle?
Monkey in the middle is a noun.
What is the plural of monkey in the middle?
The plural of monkey in the middle is monkeys in the middle.

Words near monkey in the middle in the dictionary

  1. monkey house
  2. monkey houses
  3. monkey humper
  4. monkey humpers
  5. monkey humping a football
  6. monkey in the middle
  7. monkey in the woodpile
  8. monkey island
  9. monkey islands
  10. monkey jack
  11. monkey jacket

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: monkey in the middle (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.

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