midst

Forms

Plural: midsts

Definitions

1.A place in the middle of something; may be used of a literal or metaphorical location.
- As he said in "I Have a Dream," the Negro "lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity."
- At dawn, in the midst of a mist that is both literal and the unformed shifting of thought, he encounters a young fox pup playfully shaking a bone.

Frequency

Overall

Rare· #4824

By learning goal

Everyday conversation: Rare
General reading & writing: Rare
Academic: Rare
Literature: Rare

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.