Fair
Fair adjective - Of average to below average quality.
Usage example: for what they charged us, the painters should have done better than a fair job of painting the house
Middling is a synonym for fair in mediocre topic. In some cases you can use "Middling" instead an adjective "Fair", when it comes to topics like quality, reasonable, medium, respectable. popular alternative
Middling
Middling adjective - Of average to below average quality.
Usage example: was disappointed in the renowned historian's latest book, which is only middling
Fair is a synonym for middling in quality topic. You can use "Fair" instead an adjective "Middling", if it concerns topics such as property, moderate, adequate, medium. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
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Thanks to your flittering around doing as you please, my plans have gone fair-to-middling FUBAR!
Source: You Meddling Kids - Hazama: Thanks to your fluttering around doing as you please, my plans have gone fair-to-middling FUBAR!
Source: Third Act Stupidity - While it may not be entirely fair to the "middling" performers, this ensures that every organization gets a mix of good and bad people and prevents any one place from having a large group of abysmal performers.
Source: Conservation of Competence
Cite this Source
Middling and Fair. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/fair/middling
Fair & Middling. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/fair/middling>.
Middling or Fair. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/fair/middling.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "fair" and "middling" have occurred on timeline