middle of nowhere

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English

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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middle of nowhere (plural middles of nowhere)

  1. (idiomatic) A very remote or secluded area; a nondescript place lacking population, interesting things, or defining characteristics.
    • 1889 Nov. 2, "The Proof" (editorial), The Daily Record (Kansas, USA), p. 2 (retrieved 12 April 2013):
      We set out to demonstrate to the people of the county that a corrupt ring managed the Republican party in this county. . . . We want that corrupt ring knocked into the middle of Nowhere.
    • 1920, Margaret Pedler, chapter 29, in The Hermit of Far End:
      "Only we don't happen to be in the middle of nowhere! We're just about a couple of miles from a market town where abides a nice little inn whence petrol can be obtained."
    • 1950 May, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Tanganyika Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 297:
      The train occasionally stops when it crosses a stream in the middle of nowhere to take on water.
    • 1977 October 17, “Now, the Poor Man's Jumbo Jet”, in Time:
      South Florida's Everglades Jetport is a fancy name for a concrete runway in the middle of nowhere.
    • 1997, Bob Dylan (lyrics and music), “Tryin' to Get to Heaven”, in Time Out of Mind:
      I've been walking through the middle of nowhere / Trying to get to heaven before they close the door
    • 2012 May 9, Bettina Wassener, “A Modern Magellan Demonstrates Power of the Sun”, in New York Times, retrieved 12 April 2013:
      [A]fter weeks of journeying across the monotonous open sea. . . . “You see nothing for 30 days — you’re in the middle of nowhere, you feel like you are in outer space,” said Mr. Domjan.
    • 2021 July 23, Ryan Trahan, 0:12 from the start, in Overnight in an Abandoned Ghost Town[1]:
      In the 1800s, tons of Americans migrated all over in search of one thing: money. Towns just started popping up in the middles of nowhere to mine for gold.
    • 2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 56:
      It feels strange to be crossing the site of the old Ripple Lane locomotive depot and freight yards on a new viaduct, to arrive in what used to be the middle of nowhere but which is now a growing new development.

Usage notes

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  • Almost always in the singular, preceded by the.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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