middle distance
noun
1
: a part of a pictorial representation or scene between the foreground and the background
2
: any footrace distance usually from 800 to 1500 meters or from 880 yards to one mile
Example Sentences
As I looked out over the water, a small boat appeared in the middle distance.
Recent Examples on the Web Its appearance reflects that, even if its iconic stone lion, gazing moodily into the middle distance from its perch above the entrance, was added in 1911. 
Will Hawkes, Washington Post, 11 Aug. 2022 One soldier stands straight, undone, an awful stillness staring helplessly out, directly at the viewer, to some unfocused middle distance. Jeff Macgregor, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 May 2022 And 19-year-old Anastasiia Laletina withdrew from the middle distance sitting biathlon event on March 8, after learning her father—a Ukrainian soldier—was captured by Russian forces, as a team spokesperson confirmed to USA Today. Christa Sgobba, SELF, 9 Mar. 2022 Skaters from an ice show twirl gleamingly in the middle distance. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022 Rosenfeld was a sprinter who was trying middle distance for the first time. Roger Robinson, Outside Online, 14 July 2021 With their mouths slightly open and their eyes gazing into the middle distance, their bodies are in the room, but their minds are somewhere else. Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 15 Apr. 2022 The Ukrainian women’s standing biathlon team earned the country’s first 1-2-3 finish of the day in the 10K middle distance event. Christa Sgobba, SELF, 9 Mar. 2022 The podium sweep by Lukianenko, Kovalevskyi and Suiarko was the second of the day for Ukraine, following a 1-2-3 finish by Ukrainian women in middle distance standing. Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 8 Mar. 2022 See More
Will Hawkes, Washington Post, 11 Aug. 2022 One soldier stands straight, undone, an awful stillness staring helplessly out, directly at the viewer, to some unfocused middle distance. Jeff Macgregor, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 May 2022 And 19-year-old Anastasiia Laletina withdrew from the middle distance sitting biathlon event on March 8, after learning her father—a Ukrainian soldier—was captured by Russian forces, as a team spokesperson confirmed to USA Today. Christa Sgobba, SELF, 9 Mar. 2022 Skaters from an ice show twirl gleamingly in the middle distance. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022 Rosenfeld was a sprinter who was trying middle distance for the first time. Roger Robinson, Outside Online, 14 July 2021 With their mouths slightly open and their eyes gazing into the middle distance, their bodies are in the room, but their minds are somewhere else. Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 15 Apr. 2022 The Ukrainian women’s standing biathlon team earned the country’s first 1-2-3 finish of the day in the 10K middle distance event. Christa Sgobba, SELF, 9 Mar. 2022 The podium sweep by Lukianenko, Kovalevskyi and Suiarko was the second of the day for Ukraine, following a 1-2-3 finish by Ukrainian women in middle distance standing. Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 8 Mar. 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1803, in the meaning defined at sense 1