Meanings
plural middle schools · alternative middle-school · alternative middleschool
- countableeducationA school which crosses the traditional divide between primary school and secondary school.
Synonyms: intermediate school, junior high school
- uncountableeducationAn educational level or stage between primary school and secondary school.
These authors argue that lists based on university-level reading material cannot be directly imported into contexts such as middle school since the lexical profiles of subjects and their vocabulary demands are different.
2018, Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes: Discipline-specific wordlists, collocations and word families for eight secondary subjects”, in Journal of English for Academic Purposes, volume 35, →DOI, page 107
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA school which crosses the traditional divide between primary school and secondary school.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna school for students intermediate between elementary school and college; usually grades 9 to 12
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Bulgarian прогимназия
- прогимназия (progimnazija)school containing both primary and secondary students
Chinese Mandarin 初級中學 /初级中学, 中學 /中学
- 初級中學 /初级中学 (chūjí zhōngxué)school containing both primary and secondary students
- 中學 /中学 (zhōngxué)school containing both primary and secondary students
Dutch middenschool
- middenschoolschool containing both primary and secondary students
Finnish keskikoulu
- keskikouluschool containing both primary and secondary students
French cycle
- cycleschool containing both primary and secondary students
German Mittelstufe
- Mittelstufeschool containing both primary and secondary students
Greek γυμνάσιο
- γυμνάσιο (gymnásio)school containing both primary and secondary students
Icelandic miðskóli
- miðskólischool containing both primary and secondary students
Indonesian sekolah satu atap
- sekolah satu atapschool containing both primary and secondary students
Irish scoil mheánach
- scoil mheánachschool containing both primary and secondary students
Italian scuola media
- scuola mediaschool containing both primary and secondary students
Japanese 中学校
- 中学校 (chūgakkō)school containing both primary and secondary students
Korean 중학교
- 중학교 (junghakgyo)school containing both primary and secondary students
Polish gimnazjum
- gimnazjumschool containing both primary and secondary students
Romanian școală medie
- școală medieschool containing both primary and secondary students
Russian сре́дняя шко́ла
- сре́дняя шко́ла (srédnjaja škóla)school containing both primary and secondary students
Spanish escuela media
- escuela mediaschool containing both primary and secondary students
Swedish mellanstadie
- mellanstadieschool containing both primary and secondary students
Thai มัธยมต้น
- มัธยมต้น (máttáyommá dtôn)school containing both primary and secondary students
Yiddish מיטלשול
- מיטלשול (mitlshul)school containing both primary and secondary students
Cite this entry
middle school. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/middle%20school
“middle school.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/middle%20school. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “middle school,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/middle%20school.
Source: middle school on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.