Pronunciations (5)
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/ˈmɪdlɪŋ/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/ˈmɪdl̩ɪŋ/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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/ˈmɪd(ə)lɪŋ/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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ˈmɪdlɪŋ
Pronunciation notes
- GB
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ˈmɪd(ə)lɪŋ
Pronunciation notes
- US
Adjective
Of intermediate or average size, position, or quality; mediocre.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The football team is never the worst or best in its league; its position is always middling.
More examples (4)
[…] I cannot think it unreaſonable, […] to imagin the ſame natural cauſes may ſometimes act in t'other extreme likewiſe, and model Humane Bodies from a peculiar Energy in the ſeminal Principles, or a more perfect and through concoction in the Stomach, and other Viſcera, whence may proceed a peculiar and extraordinary nutritive faculty in the humours, for the furthering augmentation; or ſtill from ſome other more latent Spring, or ſecret Influence, to ariſe to ſuch a growth as fully to equal twice the heighth of (what we may then properly call) a middling ſtature, taking the word in the moſt ſtrict ſenſe.
Had it [De le Maniere d'écrire l'Histoire (Concerning the Manner of Writing History, 1783) by Gabriel Bonnot de Mably] appeared ſooner, and been peruſed by with docility by ſome of our minor adventurers in this walk of literature, it might have had a good effect, by ſhewing them, that it is not ſo eaſy a matter as they think to write hiſtory, though the moſt middling genius may fling facts, dawb characters, and copy tales and truths promiſcuouſly.
All this is undoubtedly compatible with mediocrity, like every other profession; one can also be a middling poet, a middling orator, a middling author; but this done with genius is sublime.
Yet there he [Samuel Richardson] is, plump, prosaic, the most middling of middling men, and so domestically fussy that even his gift of weeping hardly guarantees that he will be a major figure.
Rather, [Thomas] Holcroft uses his experiences as fooder while claiming the status of an "author" just as more middling writers did.
More examples (2)
The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but [Ice Age:] Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that's already been settled.
Despite its middling record, [Sam] Altman would also emerge from Loopt much better off than he’d started.
In fairly good health.
Usage- UK usage
- Colloquial
- Regional
- Examples
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I am in a middling Way, between Healthy and Sick, hardly ever without a little Giddineſs or Deafneſs, and ſometimes both: So much for that.
“And how’s that chest of yours?” demanded Mrs. Morel. / He smiled again, with his blue eyes rather sunny. / “Oh, it’s very middlin’,” he said.
Adverb
Fairly, moderately, somewhat.
Usage- UK usage
- Colloquial
- Regional
- Examples
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More examples (1)
St. Jerom ſeated, a middling ſized upright plate, from J. Palma, dated 1596. I think this is one of the fineſt prints by this great maſter. The drawing is admirable, and the engraving is executed with the utmoſt freedom.
Iwami, otherwise Sekisju, is two days journey long, going from ſouth to north, a middling good country, producing plenty of cannib, and affording ſome ſalt.
Not too badly, with modest success.
Usage- UK usage
- Colloquial
- Regional
Noun
Something of intermediate or average size, position, or quality.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Middlings are less likely to adopt worker commitment than are Leaders, but the two groups are equally likely to adopt organisational responsibility. […] Middlings have not been able to effectively implement innovative environmental programmes and proactive social programmes.
Something of intermediate or average size, position, or quality. Preceded by the: people of moderate means; members of the middle class.
Usage- in-plural
- Examples
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More examples (1)
The war had been significantly financed by the poor and the middling, who purchased bonds that quickly devalued from wartime inflation; debt speculators had bought much of this debt at a fraction of the original cost.
Adjective
lacking exceptional quality or ability
- Examples
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a novel of average merit
only a fair performance of the sonata
More examples (3)
in fair health
the caliber of the students has gone from mediocre to above average
the performance was middling at best
Noun
any commodity of intermediate quality or size (especially when coarse particles of ground wheat are mixed with bran)
- Broader terms
Adverb
to certain extent or degree
- Examples
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pretty big
pretty bad
More examples (3)
jolly decent of him
the shoes are priced reasonably
he is fairly clever with computers