in medias res

[ in me-di-ahs res; English in mee-dee-uhs reez, in mey-dee-ahs reys ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adverb

Latin.

in the middle of things.

in medias res

/ ɪn ˈmiːdɪˌæs ˈreɪs /

(no translation)

in or into the middle of events or a narrative

in medias res

In the middle of the action. Epics often begin in medias res. For example, the Odyssey, which tells the story of the wanderings of the hero Odysseus , begins almost at the end of his wanderings, just before his arrival home. In medias res is a Latin phrase used by the poet Horace ; it means “in the middle of things.”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of in medias res¹

literally: into the midst of things, taken from a passage in Horace's Ars Poetica

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Nevertheless, if you’re exhausted with voiceover exposition, you’re probably also over in medias res openers, i.e. starting with a scene from the middle of the story before flashing back to the beginning.

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Even then, his epilogue ends in medias res — with a man who was raised in Port Jervis remembering how the white boys would bully Black boys like him.

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This poem by Lyudmyla Khersonsky begins in medias res with a dead body rather than the death itself, followed by a pile of urgent questions.

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Unlike the retrospective perspective of the 2012 film, “How to Survive a Pandemic” unfolds in medias res — which, given the immensity of the still-ongoing crisis, is both the film’s strength and weakness.

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It's quite the in medias res opener in a hospital emergency room with nearly the entire cast picking up straight where the season 1 finale left off.

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inmate in mem.

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