midst
noun
Simple meaning
A place in the middle of something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
midstIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɪdst
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
often literary
A place in the middle of something; may be used of a literal or metaphorical location.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A place in the middle of something; may be used of a literal or metaphorical location.
Used this way, midst is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Formal
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Literary and expressive
Where it naturally appears
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
Comfortable in writing and prepared speech; in casual conversation a shorter everyday word usually sounds more natural.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use midst
- “In the midst of the crowd.”noun
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The middle or central part or point.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.