amid
/əˈmɪd/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.95 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
prep
In the middle of; in the center of; surrounded by.
Example Sentences
- "a small lake amid the hills"
- "I sat down amid roars of laughter."
- "At last the first glimpse from a bridge of an open-top red bus, and a noticeable darkening of the atmosphere from the smoke of London: then the increasingly dingy stations with double-barrel names, set amid what has always been to me the outstanding feature of the "Premier Line" approach to London—the positively marvellous display of crazy chimney-pots on the grey inner suburban houses. As many as twenty, all of varying style, standing together like ranks of jagged teeth, and providing a Dickensian back-cloth which no other route can boast."
- "The resulting social divisions can seem so "real" and "natural" to those living amid them that there is a strong tendency to believe that they are timeless biological or scientific facts, rather than social facts that have been assembled and built up through human effort."
- "Amid all the fevered anticipation of this fixture, few would have expected to witness an aesthetically pleasing example of the beautiful game."
- "In Osaka, the big action scenes take place with arrows as well as swords, amid glass display cases holding samurai costumes, a classic Wick setting."
Etymology
From Middle English amidde, Old English on middan, a- + mid.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈmɪd/
- British English: /əˈmɪd/