Midland Meaning
/ˈmɪdlənd/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounThe region of a country not near the borders; the interior.
adjResembling or relating to the interior region of a country.
Sentence Examples
The midland region was hampered by lack of access to the sea.
I speak English with a Midland American accent.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ area of the country, far from any sea, has very flat plains.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small town is situated in a ____ region, far away from both the rugged mountains and the scenic coastal areas of the state.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English mydlonde, equivalent to mid- + land.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The City of Daejeon: the capital of Choongnam Province in the midland of Korea, now it is expanded to be a Metropolitan City."
— 2007, Kye-hyŏng Pak, A Life, →ISBN, page 166:
"Throughout the Midland and the South, the nucleus of /aw/ is well front of center, [...]"
— 2011, William Labov, Principles of Linguistic Change, Volume 3, →ISBN:
"[...] the difficult Southern English found in the Kentish Ayenbite of Inwyt, or even from the Midland of Chaucer's poems."
— 1912, Walter William Skeat, English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day:
"The striking positional variants [...] of Virginia are probably an American innovation, since this feature is not found in Standard British English or the folk speech of the Midland and the south of England, though northern England and Scotland have it to some extent.
[…]
It is worth noting that only two instances of the pronunciation /jɛst/, riming with guest, have been recorded in the New England settlement area (one near Boston, the other near Buffalo), a pronunciation widely used in the English Midland along with /jɪst/, riming with fist. These are the normal derivatives of OE gist, gest..."
— 1961, Pronunciation of English in the United States, pages 110 and 175:
"In the more Midland counties, there are thirteen ; in Staffordshire (Wolverhampton), one; in Warwick (Birmingham), seven; in Nottingham, three; in Leicester, one; and Northampton, one."
— 1908, “Report of the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the Feeble-Minded”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 88:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ area of the country, far from any sea, has very flat plains.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small town is situated in a ____ region, far away from both the rugged mountains and the scenic coastal areas of the state.