Meanings
adjectivemidlife (not comparable)
alternative mid-life
- not comparableOccurring in the middle point of one's life, usually considered about 45.
nounmidlife (plural midlives)
plural midlives · alternative mid-life
- The middle period of one's life.
Twins from all the patterns of twinship experienced this emotional disaster as young adults or in their midlives.
2003, Barbara Schave Klein, Not all twins are alike: psychological profiles of twinship, page 571 more example
Now we were writing, talking, sharing bits of our lives again, glad that both of us were able to talk about our midlives (which we realized could very well have been our late lives).
2007 August 12, Curtis Pesmen, “As Survivors, We Were Closer Than Lovers”, in New York Times
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*me
- Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-?
- Proto-Indo-European*médʰi
- Proto-Indo-European*médʰyos
- Proto-Germanic*midjaz
- Proto-West Germanic*midi
- Old Englishmidd
- Middle Englishmid
- Englishmid
- Englishmid-
- Proto-Indo-European*leyp-
- Proto-Germanic*lībaną
- Proto-Germanic*lībą
- Proto-West Germanic*līb
- Old Englishlīf
- Middle Englishlyf
- Englishlife
- Englishmidlife
Translations
Finnish keski-iän
- keski-iänoccurring in the middle point of one's life
Indonesian paruh baya
- paruh bayaoccurring in the middle point of one's life
Cite this entry
APA
midlife. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midlife
MLA
“midlife.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midlife. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “midlife,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/midlife.
Source: midlife on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.