Meanings
- Lying between; neither one thing nor the other; intermediary.
plural in-betweens
- An interval or intervening time.
Synonyms: interim
- One who intervenes.
- Synonym of inbetweener (“a person who or thing that falls between different groups or characteristics”).
“They don’t belong anywhere. Colored folks won’t have ‘em because they’re half white; white folks won’t have ’em cause they’re colored, so they’re just inbetweens, don’t belong anywhere.[…]”
1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLCSynonyms: inbetweener
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn interval or intervening time.
nounSynonym of inbetweener (“a person who or thing that falls between different groups or characteristics”).
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivebeing neither at the beginning nor at the end in a series
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
- Proto-Germanic*in
- Old Englishin-
- Middle Englishin-
- Englishin-
- Englishbetween
- Englishin-between
Translations
Arabic بَيْنَ بَيْنَ
- بَيْنَ بَيْنَ (bayna bayna)Lying between
Bulgarian междинен, преходен
- междинен (meždinen)Lying between
- преходен (prehoden)Lying between
Catalan intermedi
- intermediLying between
Dutch tussenliggend
- tussenliggendLying between
German dazwischenliegend
- dazwischenliegendLying between
Polish leżący pomiędzy
- leżący pomiędzyLying between
Russian перехо́дный, промежу́точный
- перехо́дный (perexódnyj)Lying between
- промежу́точный (promežútočnyj)Lying between
Tagalog nasa pagitan
- nasa pagitanLying between
Cite this entry
in-between. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in-between
“in-between.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in-between. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in-between,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in-between.
Source: in-between on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.