mid

¹

[mid]

adjective

1. being at or near the middle point of.

   We visited in mid autumn to catch the leaves at their best.

   The group was active in the mid 1890s.

2. being or occupying a middle place or position.

   These socks hit at the mid calf, making them good for wearing with boots.

   The bark mid trunk has been eaten away by insects.

3. Phonetics.,  (of a vowel) articulated with an opening above the tongue relatively intermediate between those for high and low: the vowels of beet, bet, and bot are respectively high, mid, and low.

4. Slang.,  mediocre, unimpressive, or disappointing.

   Everyone thinks that show is so great, but I've always thought it was mid.

   The shoes are really mid but the shirt is cute.

noun

1. Archaic.,  the middle.

mid

²

Or 'mid

[mid]

preposition

1. amid.

mid

³

[mid]

noun

Informal.

1. a midshipman.

mid-

⁴

1. a combining form representing mid1 in compound words.

   midday; mid-Victorian.

mid.

⁵

abbreviation

1. middle.

Mid.

⁶

abbreviation

1. Midshipman.

M.I.D.

⁷

abbreviation

1. Master of Industrial Design.

mid

¹

/ mɪd /

adjective

1. phonetics of, relating to, or denoting a vowel whose articulation lies approximately halfway between high and low, such as e in English bet

noun

1. an archaic word for middle

Mid.

²

abbreviation

1. Midshipman

mid

³

/ mɪd /

preposition

1. a poetic word for amid

mid.

⁴

abbreviation

1. middle

mid-

⁵

combining form

1. indicating a middle part, point, time, or position

   midday

   mid-April

   mid-Victorian

Word History and Origins

Origin of mid¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English midd- (both an adjective and the initial element of a compound; modern spellings such as mid autumn are probably a reanalysis of the combining form mid- as an adjective); cognate with Old High German mitti, Old Norse mithr, Gothic midjis; akin to Greek mésos, méssos, méttos, Latin medius, Old Church Slavonic mežda “limit, border,” Old Irish mide, Sanskrit madhya “middle”; mid-

Origin of mid²

By shortening

Origin of mid³

Middle English, Old English; mid ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of mid¹

C12 midre (inflected form of midd, unattested); related to Old Norse mithr, Gothic midjis

Origin of mid²

Old English; see _middle , _mid ¹

Example Sentences

A royal commission - Australia's most powerful form of public inquiry - into the scheme finished in mid-2023 and drew hundreds of public submissions.

From BBC

The average age of contestants on Stranded on Honeymoon Island is around 30, compared with a show like Love Island where the cast are mostly in their early to mid 20s.

From BBC

The number of wildfires across north, mid and west Wales this year has already exceeded the total amount for any year since 2020, according to new figures.

From BBC

It said between 2023-24 there were 632 emergencies in mid and north Wales that "would have benefited from an air ambulance response" but that it could only get to 81.

From BBC

Police said formal identification had still to take place, but they believed the driver and the two passengers in the Ford Fiesta were male and in their mid teens.

From BBC

Related Words

• average 
• boring 
• dull 
• mediocre 
• middling