medium
- 1In the middle in size, amount, or strength: not too big or small, and not too much or too little.
Like the middle bowl in a set: not the big one and not the small one.
She wears a medium shirt, not a small one and not a large one.
We packed the books in a medium box that two people could carry.
UsageUse it before words like heat or size: medium heat.
Similarmoderate, intermediate, average
- 2
- 3A way or channel used to do something or reach a goal.
Like a bridge that lets you cross from one side to the other.
Money is a useful medium for trade between countries.
Language is the medium we use to share ideas with each other.
UsageSay a medium for something: a medium for trade.
Similarmeans, channel, vehicle, instrument, avenue
Note
- 4A material or method an artist uses to make art, such as paint or clay.
Clay is her favorite medium for making art.
He works in oil paint as his main medium.
UsageSay in: she works in clay.
Note
- 5The material or space around something, or that sound, light, or other waves move through.
Like water that lets ripples spread out when you drop a stone.
Sound needs a medium like air or water to travel.
Glass is a medium through which light travels more slowly than through air.
UsageSound moves through a medium like air.
Note
- 6A material or place where living things can live and grow.
Like a pond that is both home and food for the fish in it.
Healthy soil is a good medium for plant roots.
Wet bread is a perfect medium for mold to grow on.
UsagePlants grow in a growing medium like soil.
Similarenvironment, habitat
Note
Less common meanings
- 7Cooked so meat is pink and warm in the middle, not red and not fully cooked.
He likes his steak medium, with some pink left inside.
I asked the cook to make my burger medium.
UsageSay how you want meat cooked: I'd like it medium.
- 8The middle size, usually of clothes, between small and large. Something in that size.
This jacket comes in small, medium, and large.
I usually wear medium in most brands.
UsageSay in medium for the size, and a medium for one shirt.
Note
- 9A person who claims to pass messages from dead people to the living.
Like a phone line that someone claims connects the living and the dead.
The medium said she could hear his late grandmother speaking.
People paid the medium to contact their dead relatives.
UsageMore than one is mediums.
Similarpsychic, clairvoyant, spiritualist
Note
- 10A point or level halfway between two extremes.
Like the middle rung of a ladder, not the top and not the bottom.
She found a happy medium between saving money and having fun.
Try to find a happy medium between work and play.
UsageSay find a happy medium between two things.
Similarbalance, compromise, mean, middle
Oppositeextreme
Note
- 11In a middle amount, not a lot and not a little.
I'd like my toast done medium, not too dark.
The chili was spiced medium, with just a little kick.
UsagePut it after the verb or before a word like spicy: medium spicy.
Similarmoderately
- 12The liquid in paint that holds the color and lets it spread.
Like the milk you stir cocoa powder into so it pours smoothly.
She mixed the powder with a clear medium to make paint.
A thinner medium makes the colors easier to spread.
Similarvehicle
Note
- 13An average amount or value worked out from several numbers.
The number of Britiſh ſhips annually arriving in our ports vvas reduced to 1756 ſail, containing 92.559 tons, on a medium of the ſix years vvar, compared vvith the ſix years of peace preceding it.
1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the NationHere, medium means an average worked out over the six years.Note
- 14A half-pint glass of stout, such as Guinness.
Note
- 15Equal to the plain average of a set of numbers, by old usage.
Note
- 16Small bits of material used to smooth or clean the surface of a part.
- 17In logic, the middle idea that links the two main parts of an argument.
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Practice
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Origin
From Latin medium, meaning "the middle," from a word medius meaning "middle."
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- English medium comes from Latin medium. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin medium means “the middle.” en.wiktionary.org
- Latin medium is a form of medius, meaning “middle.” en.wiktionary.org