Between

//bəˈtwin// noun, prep

noun, prep ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A kind of needle, shorter than a sharp, with a small rounded eye, used for making fine stitches on heavy fabrics.
Adverb
  1. 1
    in between wordnet
  2. 2
    in the interval wordnet
Preposition
  1. 1
    In the position or interval that separates (two things), or intermediate in quantity or degree. (See Usage notes below.)

    "John stood between Amy and Mary.    Let’s meet between two and three."

  2. 2
    Done together or reciprocally.

    "conversation between friends"

  3. 3
    Shared in confidence.

    "Between you and me, I think the boss is crazy.  Let's keep this between ourselves."

  4. 4
    In transit from (one to the other, or connecting places).

    "He's between jobs right now.  The shuttle runs between the town and the airport."

  5. 5
    Combined (by effort or ownership).

    "Between us all, we shall succeed.  We've only got £5 between us."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    One of (representing a choice).

    "You must choose between him and me."

  2. 7
    Taking together the combined effect of.

    "Between the food and the card games, this proved to be the best birthday party I have ever had."

Synonyms

All synonyms
'tweenamongatweenatweenatwixatwix

Example

More examples

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is."

Etymology

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English betwene, from Old English betwēonum (“between, among”, dative plural, literally “by the two, near both”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”) + *twīhnaz (“two each”), corresponding to be- + twain. Cognate with Scots between (“between”), Scots atween (“between”), Gothic 𐍄𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌽𐌰𐌹 (tweihnai, “two each”), Old English betweoh (“between”), Old English twinn (“double, twofold”). More at betwixt, twin. More distantly related to Ancient Greek διά (diá, “through, across, by, over”) whence English dia- (“through, across, between”). For the meaning development also compare with Mongolian хооронд (xoorond, “between”), connected with Mongolian хоёр (xojor, “two”).

Related phrases

between Scylla and Charybdisbetween a rock and a hard placebetween decksbetween jobsbetween ourselvesbetween the devil and the deep blue seabetween the earsbetween the hammer and the anvilbetween the jigs and the reelsbetween the linesbetween the pegsbetween the pipes

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.