Midlist
adj
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Unlikely to be more than modestly successful. not-comparable
"He scoffs at the lesser-known, midlist and emerging authors […]."
- 2 Expected to achieve sales performance that blends frontlist performance with backlist performance, being neither a bestseller when new nor a perennial backlist performer but strong enough in each of those categories to be successful overall. attributive, not-comparable
"The celebrity tell-all has been proposed as a frontlist title, whereas the cookbook has been proposed as a backlist title and the food history book as a midlist title."
Example
More examples"He scoffs at the lesser-known, midlist and emerging authors […]."
Etymology
From mid- + list.
More for "midlist"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.