MIDDLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does middle mean? 

• MIDDLE (noun)
  The noun MIDDLE has 4 senses:

1. an area that is approximately central within some larger region

2. an intermediate part or section

3. the middle area of the human torso (usually in front)

4. time between the beginning and the end of a temporal period

  Familiarity information: MIDDLE used as a noun is uncommon.

• MIDDLE (adjective)
  The adjective MIDDLE has 4 senses:

1. being neither at the beginning nor at the end in a series

2. equally distant from the extremes

3. of a stage in the development of a language or literature between earlier and later stages

4. between an earlier and a later period of time

  Familiarity information: MIDDLE used as an adjective is uncommon.

• MIDDLE (verb)
  The verb MIDDLE has 1 sense:

1. put in the middle

  Familiarity information: MIDDLE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MIDDLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An area that is approximately central within some larger region

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

center; centre; eye; heart; middle

Context example:

they were in the eye of the storm

Hypernyms ("middle" is a kind of...):

area; country (a particular geographical region of indefinite boundary (usually serving some special purpose or distinguished by its people or culture or geography))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "middle"):

center stage; centre stage (the central area on a theater stage)

central city; city center; city centre (the central part of a city)

storm center; storm centre (the central area or place of lowest barometric pressure within a storm)

financial center (the part of a city where financial institutions are centered)

hub (a center of activity or interest or commerce or transportation; a focal point around which events revolve)

inner city (the older and more populated and (usually) poorer central section of a city)

medical center (the part of a city where medical facilities are centered)

midfield ((sports) the middle part of a playing field (as in football or lacrosse))

seat (a center of authority (as a city from which authority is exercised))

midstream (the middle of a stream)

Instance hyponyms:

City of London; the City (the part of London situated within the ancient boundaries; the commercial and financial center of London)

Derivation:

middle (put in the middle)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An intermediate part or section

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

A whole is that which has beginning, middle, and end

Hypernyms ("middle" is a kind of...):

division; part; section (one of the portions into which something is regarded as divided and which together constitute a whole)

Antonym:

beginning (the first part or section of something)

end (a final part or section)

Derivation:

middle (put in the middle)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The middle area of the human torso (usually in front)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

middle; midriff; midsection

Context example:

young American women believe that a bare midriff is fashionable

Hypernyms ("middle" is a kind of...):

area; region (a part of an animal that has a special function or is supplied by a given artery or nerve)

Holonyms ("middle" is a part of...):

body; torso; trunk (the body excluding the head and neck and limbs)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Time between the beginning and the end of a temporal period

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Context example:

rain during the middle of April

Hypernyms ("middle" is a kind of...):

point; point in time (an instant of time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "middle"):

deep (the central and most intense or profound part)

Antonym:

beginning (the time at which something is supposed to begin)

end (the point in time at which something ends)

• MIDDLE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being neither at the beginning nor at the end in a series

Synonyms:

in-between; mediate; middle

Context example:

the middle point on a line

Similar:

intermediate (lying between two extremes in time or space or state)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Equally distant from the extremes

Synonyms:

center; halfway; middle; midway

Similar:

central (in or near a center or constituting a center; the inner area)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Of a stage in the development of a language or literature between earlier and later stages

Context example:

Middle Gaelic

Domain category:

linguistics (the scientific study of language)

Antonym:

early (of an early stage in the development of a language or literature)

late (of a later stage in the development of a language or literature; used especially of dead languages)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Between an earlier and a later period of time

Context example:

in his middle thirties

Similar:

intervening (occurring or falling between events or points in time)

mid (used in combination to denote the middle)

Attribute:

timing (the time when something happens)

Antonym:

early (at or near the beginning of a period of time or course of events or before the usual or expected time)

late (being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time)

• MIDDLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they middle    ... he / she / it middles   
Past simple: middled   
Past participle: middled   
-ing form: middling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put in the middle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "middle" is one way to...):

lay; place; pose; position; put; set (put into a certain place or abstract location)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

middle (an intermediate part or section)

middle (an area that is approximately central within some larger region)

 Context examples 

Edith stood in the middle of the floor, wringing her hands, panting and gasping, her whole body trembling violently.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

‘That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the flock.’

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The irregular lower chamber of the middle ear.

(Atrium of the Middle Ear, NCI Thesaurus)

Clinical presentation occurs in the middle decades and is characterized by the proximal development of multiple (but less than 100), non-polypoid colonic adenomas.

(Attenuated Familial Adenomatous Polyposis, NCI Thesaurus)

I broke short off in the middle of a sentence.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The smooth muscle tissue present in the tunica media which is the middle layer of the wall of an arteriole.

(Arteriole Smooth Muscle Tissue, NCI Thesaurus)

In the middle of it was the black figure of the secretary, his head advanced, peering out into the night.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I saw that she was parting in the middle, and that the life of the solitary man upon the mast hung by a thread.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"Keep near the shore. It isn't safe in the middle." Jo heard, but Amy was struggling to her feet and did not catch a word.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

If left untreated, it may increase in size and destroy the adjacent delicate bones of the middle ear.

(Middle Ear Cholesteatoma, NCI Thesaurus)