Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

middle of the road

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.91 in modern English

Syllables: mid-dle of the road
IPA

26

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

2

Syllables

11

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Having a centrist attitude or philosophy; not extreme, especially politically.

adj

Of a type of melodic popular music that has wide appeal.

Derogatory

noun

The middle; the average.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"A typical middle of the road compromise is to leave the problem as it is."
"Despite her massive mandate, [Jacinda] Ardern's agenda will be resolutely middle of the road [title]"
"Damon Albarn has disappointed fans expecting the third Adele album to take a drill’n’bass direction by saying that the tracks he has heard are “very middle of the road”."
"If us two competed together, we'd probably score just barely under the middle of the road."

Usage

Inflected Forms

middle-of-the-road (alternative)

Phrases

middle-of-the-roadness

Synonyms

moderate reasonable measured mellow middle of the road mild nonexcessive nonextreme nonfanatic proper reasonous sober

Questions

What does middle of the road mean?: Having a centrist attitude or philosophy; not extreme, especially politically.

How to pronounce middle of the road

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “middle of the road”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “middle of the road”.
Repeat and practice — Say “middle of the road” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.