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View synonyms for

middling

[ mid-ling ]

adjective

  1. medium, moderate, or average in size, quantity, or quality:

    The returns on such a large investment may be only middling.

  2. The restaurant's entrées are no better than middling.

  3. Older Use. in fairly good health.


adverb

  1. moderately; fairly.

noun

  1. middlings, any of various products or commodities of intermediate quality, grade, size, etc., as the coarser particles of ground wheat mingled with bran.
  2. Often middlings. Also called middling meat. Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. salt pork or smoked side meat.

middling

/ ˈɪɪŋ /

adjective

  1. mediocre in quality, size, etc; neither good nor bad, esp in health (often in the phrase fair to middling )
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

  1. informal.
    moderately

    middling well

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˈԲ, adverb
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Other Word Forms

  • dԲ· adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of middling1

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English (north) medlinge (present participle) “coming between, middle”; mid 1, -ling 2
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Word History and Origins

Origin of middling1

C15 (northern English and Scottish): from mid 1+ -ling ²
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Idioms and Phrases

see fair to middling .
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

He was bad against the Thunder, middling against the Spurs and shook against the Suns and Nuggets.

From

More likely this middling thriller just needs a decorative garnish.

From

He was forced into action briefly in one game and provided the team an insurance policy after Stick’s middling preseason.

From

The main crime the duchess commits in “With Love, Meghan” is creating a middling show that is, at worst, inoffensive.

From

The ’70s was the decade of the prime-time TV special, usually built around a middling star and featuring talent from the airing network.

From

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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