Midst
noun, prep ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A place in the middle of something; may be used of a literal or metaphorical location. literary, often
"Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels."
- 2 the location of something surrounded by other things wordnet
- 1 Among, in the middle of; amidst. rare
"Mildred comes home from work early only to discover her husband, Robert, midst of a lewd affair with their neighbor, Gladys."
Example
More examples"Your gift was like discovery of an oasis in the midst of a desert."
Etymology
From Middle English middes, midst, myddest (“middle”), from Old English midde, reshaped in Middle English phrases like in middes (“in the middle”) by analogy with adverbs in -(e)s; also compare Old English on middan, tōmiddes. Forms in -(e)st are probably due to influence of superlatives.
Related phrases
More for "midst"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.