middle distance

English

Noun

middle distance (plural middle distances)

1. (art, photography) The central portion of a picture in terms of depth, between the foreground and background.

   Synonyms: middle ground, midground

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 12:

     The atmosphere beneath is languorous, and is so tinged with azure that what artists call the middle distance partakes also of that hue, while the horizon beyond is of the deepest ultramarine.