fair to middling
Neither great nor terrible
Fair to middling means moderately good, neither excellent nor poor—just acceptable.
The phrase comes from cotton grading, where "fair" and "middling" were adjacent quality categories.
Now it's a folksy response to "How are you?" or a way to describe anything unremarkable: The food was fair to middling.
Sometimes shortened to fair to middlin'.
- passableMinimally sufficient quality
- so-soIndifferently average quality
- could be worseGrudging mild acceptance
- adequateBarely meeting standards
- fairishReasonably adequate, somewhat
mediocre · not bad · moderate · par for the course · no great shakes · acceptable · unexceptional · indifferent · ordinary · neither here nor there · tolerable · seen better days · nothing to write home about · average · getting by · plain vanilla · satisfactory · lukewarm
- Americanismsaluminum, fixin' to, apartment, howdy, candy
- fairnessjustice, impartiality, equity, equal opportunity, equal treatment
fair to middlingexcellent
Of superior quality
terrible · outstanding · awful · exceptional · dreadful
fair to middlingextraordinary
Beyond what's typical
remarkable · unforgettable · memorable · striking · life-changing
fair to middlingremarkable
Worthy of attention
extraordinary · striking · sensational · noteworthy · spectacular
fair, fairer, fairest, fairly, fairness, unfair, unfairly, unfairness, middle