middle roadn.adj.
/ˌmɪdl ˈrəʊd/, U.S. /ˌmɪd(ə)l ˈroʊd/ A. n.
1. A course or state between two extremes; = middle way n. 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > absence of prejudice > [noun] > middle course
middle way?c1225
midwayc1451
golden mean1541
middle course1579
mid-course1603
middle path1606
third way1638
midstream1670
middle line1692
middle road1759
mid-ground1825
juste milieu1831
via media1834
middle ground1961
1759 tr. Horace Satires ii. ii, in W. Duncombe et al. tr. Horace Wks. II. 182 Here stands Extravagance; there Penury; Frugality points out the middle Road.
1849 I. Williams Christian Scholar 107 Clear as with pointing hand or guiding rod Did Virtue thither shew that middle road.
1878 Mind 3 101 One of them, who tried to take a middle road between the two extremes,..found the outlines of Formal Logic looked up to as little short of the Differential Calculus.
1999 Daily Tel. 29 Dec. 25/7 The Americans tend to go for close miking, the Europeans for panoramic sound. The British took the middle road.
2. The middle part of a road.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > parts of road > [noun]
middle road1846
1846 G. Croly Mod. Orlando 85 The old French highways in general have a triple division.—The middle road, paved, for winter-travelling; the two side roads, clay, for summer-travelling.
1879 R. Browning Ivan Ivanovitch in Idyls I. 33 A village,..Snow-whitened everywhere except the middle road.
1912 J. Masefield in Eng. Rev. 10 416 He trod his last free journey down the street; Treading the middle road, and seeing both sides.
3. The middle one of three roads.
ΚΠ
1847 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 25 Dec. 413/1 On Saturday morning they reached Wellington Square by the middle road.
1900 New Eng. Mag. June 464/2 Along the middle road of the three there came a low, easy moving vehicle.
1977 R. Hugo In your Small Dream in 31 Lett. & 13 Dreams 29 The road forks Into three. Road left, brief with old men Leaning on brick walls... Middle road, oblique and long.
B. adj.
Usually with hyphen. = middle of the road adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > absence of prejudice > [adjective] > taking neutral stance
neuter1494
neutral1494
neuter1525
indifferenta1538
neuterlike1556
neutralizing1602
neutralist1648
colourless1793
achromatic1799
uncommitted1814
(to stand or sit) on or upon the fence1828
non-committal1829
non-partisan1843
whitey-brown1892
middle of the road1894
neutralistic1914
value-free1916
value-neutral1929
middle road1951
non-aligned1954
unaligned1961
1951 Public Opinion Q. 15 176 M.R.P. (Middle-road or Center Party).
1958 A. Wilson Middle Age of Mrs Eliot iii. 343 A nice middle-road historian's position, he thought to himself with comforting irony.
1969 Jrnl. Politics 31 814 (table) Parents' Views on Economic Issues..Liberal..Middle-Road..Conservative.
1971 Guardian 14 May 1/3 With no obviously dominating candidate to step into Nasser's shoes, they chose the safe middleroad candidate—Sadat.
1988 Jrnl. Econ. Lit. 26 759/1 The middle-road market economies of Colombia.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1759