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. Compare high ( def 23 ), low ¹( def 30 ).
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 for

1. middle.

Mid.

⁶

abbreviation for

1. Midshipman.

M.I.D.

⁷

abbreviation for

1. Master of Industrial Design.

mid.

¹

abbreviation for

1. middle

mid

²

/ mɪd /

preposition

1. a poetic word for amid

mid

³

/ 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-

⁴

combining_form

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

   mid-April

   midday

   mid-Victorian

Mid.

⁵

abbreviation for

1. Midshipman

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

The statement did not give a date, and on Tuesday the Welsh government said it would be within the Senedd term, which ends mid-2026.

From BBC

Mandvi and Wilson are the same age, 58, and shared the same agent in the mid-’90s when they were starting out, but they had never worked together.

From Los Angeles Times

Among many other things, and small in comparison to his overall legacy, he is credited for revolutionizing the food scene in New Orleans in the mid-60’s.

From Salon

This latest El Niño phase began in mid-2023 and ended around April 2024, but temperatures have remained stubbornly high since.

From BBC

Olvera fought to unionize Trump’s hotel, with that campaign launching in mid-2015, around the time Trump announced his first candidacy for president.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• average
• boring
• dull
• mediocre
• middling