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Glite Dictionary
midair

midair

25 4.2
A place in the air above the ground where a thing can move or float
  • noun
  • /ˈmɪdˌɛr/
translation icon : en el aire
  • Ruth reacted on the instant, halting midair to allow Jaxom to regain his balance.
  • midair refueling
  • midair refueling tankers
  • frozen in midair

You can change direction in midair and say not what I'm going to do.

Examples

  • They could change the flight plan in midair.

    The Italian Job (2003)

  • Mothers handed him their children to lift into midair so that they might lose any fear of heights.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The next thing I know we're in midair.

    The Dark Backward (1991)

  • I freeze, with one foot still in midair, and close my eyes.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • For a frozen instant, the lioness seemed to hang in midair while the spear turned slowly toward her.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Clutching a bundle, he hangs in midair for a moment, dangling over the void.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Draken tossed the mage-light; it hung in midair, illuminating silent, upturned faces.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Kneeling, he looked over the thin, crumbling ledge to see Krystin suspended in midair, her flight impossibly arrested.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • In the south, two NATO helicopters collided in midair, killing four Americans.

  • She jumped off the cliff and spun gracefully in midair before landing in the water.

How High

high-altitude
20 4.2
midair
25 4.2
low-altitude
5 4.3
ground level
21 2.4

Surface Forms

midair singular
midairs plural

Morphology

midair = air (transparent) = mid + air + mid

The meaning is directly 'mid' (middle) + 'air' (the space/atmosphere), which learners can derive from known components.

Etymology

The word midair is made from mid ('middle') and air ('the space above the ground'). Think of midday for mid, so midair means 'in the middle of the air', which explains why we say someone caught something in midair.