| / English Dictionary |
MIDDLE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The middle area of the human torso (usually in front)
Example:
young American women believe that a bare midriff is fashionable
Synonyms:
Classified under:
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 2
Meaning:
An intermediate part or section
Example:
A whole is that which has beginning, middle, and end
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
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:
An area that is approximately central within some larger region
Example:
they were in the eye of the storm
Synonyms:
center; centre; eye; heart; middle
Classified under:
Nouns denoting spatial position
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 4
Meaning:
Time between the beginning and the end of a temporal period
Example:
rain during the middle of April
Classified under:
Nouns denoting time and temporal relations
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)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Equally distant from the extremes
Synonyms:
center; halfway; middle; midway
Classified under:
Similar:
central (in or near a center or constituting a center; the inner area)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Between an earlier and a later period of time
Example:
in his middle thirties
Classified under:
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)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of a stage in the development of a language or literature between earlier and later stages
Example:
Middle Gaelic
Classified under:
Adjectives
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:
Being neither at the beginning nor at the end in a series
Example:
the middle point on a line
Synonyms:
in-between; mediate; middle
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
intermediate (lying between two extremes in time or space or state)
III. (verb)
Verb forms
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:
A non-neoplastic or neoplastic disorder that affects the middle ear.
(Middle Ear Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)
The prisoners were left for the moment standing alone in the middle of the clearing.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
An intraepithelial carcinoma of the middle ear without evidence of invasion.
(Middle Ear Carcinoma In Situ, NCI Thesaurus)
A carcinoma that arises from the middle ear.
(Middle Ear Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)
A device that fits into the outer ear and delivers air pulses to the middle ear can help.
(Meniere's Disease, NIH: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders)
A bone belonging to the middle part of the foot located between toes and ankle.
(Metatarsal Bone, NCI Thesaurus)
By the middle of the second day he had been running continuously for thirty hours, and the iron of his flesh was giving out.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
The middle ear leads to the inner ear.
(Middle Ear, NCI Thesaurus)
A nucleus located in the middle hypothalamus in the most ventral part of the third ventricle near the entrance of the infundibular recess.
(Arcuate Nucleus, NCI Thesaurus)
Denoting the area of the body in front and away from the middle line.
(Anterolateral, NCI Thesaurus)
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