Word.ws English Dictionary

played both sides against the middle

played both sides against the middle is the simple past and past participle of play both sides against the middle.

Meaning of play both sides against the middle

Verb

play both sides against the middle (third-person singular simple present plays both sides against the middle, present participle playing both sides against the middle, simple past and past participle played both sides against the middle)

  1. (idiomatic) To manipulate opponents or competitors in a manner which benefits the manipulator.
    • Some of the lesser Democrats, especially in the remoter reaches of the Bible country, have the same yearning, but they are not as numerous as the Republicans, all of whom have been greatly embarrassed by Dr. Hoover's laborious efforts to play both sides against the middle.1932, George Jean Nathan, Henry Louis Mencken, The American Mercury, page 383

Questions about played both sides against the middle

What is played both sides against the middle the simple past and past participle of?
Played both sides against the middle is the simple past and past participle of play both sides against the middle.

Words near played both sides against the middle in the dictionary

  1. played away
  2. played back
  3. played ball
  4. played big
  5. played booty
  6. played both sides against the middle
  7. played by ear
  8. played by the rules
  9. played cheat
  10. played chicken
  11. played Cupid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: played both sides against the middle (page history and authors); play both sides against 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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