between

(bĭ-twēn')
prep.

1. 1. In or through the position or interval separating: between the trees; between 11 o'clock and 12 o'clock.
   2. Intermediate to, as in quantity, amount, or degree: It costs between 15 and 20 dollars.
2. Usage Problem. Connecting spatially: a railroad between the two cities.
3. Usage Problem. Associating or uniting in a reciprocal action or relationship: an agreement between workers and management; a certain resemblance between the two stories.
4. In confidence restricted to: Between you and me, he is not qualified.
5. 1. By the combined effort or effect of: Between them they succeeded.
   2. In the combined ownership of: They had only a few dollars between them.
6. As measured against. Often used to express a reciprocal relationship: choose between riding and walking.

adv.
In an intermediate space, position, or time; in the interim.

idioms:

in between

1. In an intermediate situation: My roommates disagreed and I was caught in between.

in between times

1. During an intervening period; in the meantime: has written several books and teaches in between times.

[Middle English bitwene, from Old English betwēonum.]

betweenness between'ness n.

USAGE NOTE   According to a widely repeated but unjustified tradition, "between is used for two, and among for more than two." It is true that between is the only choice when exactly two entities are specified: the choice between (not among) good and evil, the rivalry between (not among) Great Britain and France. When more than two entities are involved, however, or when the number of entities is unspecified, the choice of one or the other word depends on the intended sense. Between is used when the entities are considered as distinct individuals; among, when they are considered as a mass or collectivity. Thus in the sentence The bomb landed between the houses, the houses are seen as points that define the boundaries of the area of impact (so that we presume that none of the individual houses was hit). In The bomb landed among the houses, the area of impact is considered to be the general location of the houses, taken together (in which case it is left open whether any houses were hit). By the same token, we may speak of a series of wars between the Greek cities, which suggests that each city was an independent participant in the hostilities, or of a series of wars among the Greek cities, which allows for the possibility that the participants were shifting alliances of cities. For this reason, among is used to indicate inclusion in a group: She is among the best of our young sculptors. There is a spy among you. Use between when the entities are seen as determining the limits or endpoints of a range: They searched the area between the river, the farmhouse, and the woods. The truck driver had obviously been drinking between stops.

View more Literature & Language videos

1.
general.
Between is an adverb (houses with spaces between) and a preposition (houses with spaces between them). We are concerned here with between as a preposition.

2.
between and among.
Many people, and usage guides, cling to the idea (probably influenced by the use of between in relation to physical distance between points), that between is used when two people or things are involved and among must be invoked when more than two are involved. But this line is supported neither by the explanations of the Old English (up to 1150)D nor by usage, which constantly refer to two or more parties:

Does he sigh between the chimes of the clock?—J. M. Coetzee, 1977

Things that had happened a long time since—between Isaac and myself—Nigel Williams, 1985.

The death of his sister had changed things between Marcus, Ruth and Jacqueline—A. S. Byatt, 1985

The programme is delivered through partnerships between all levels of government—Northern Rivers Echo News, Australian English 2004.

There are, however, cases where among is the better word to use, normally when the underlying notion is of collectivity rather than separation:

There were a lot of very young people among the temporary staff—Penelope Fitzgerald, 1980

The UN...does have machinery designed to...keep the peace among nations—Christian Science Monitor, 1987.

Conversely, between and not among is used when there are only two people or things (as in the first 1985 example in the preceding paragraph), and when the people or things (of whatever number) are specified (as in the second 1985 example). Before reflexive pronouns (ourselves, themselves, etc) among and between are used interchangeably.

3.
between...and....
Between should be followed by and, not other words such as or, as in the following examples:

☒[This] leaves Britain with the choice between being ruined by runaway inflation or by a series of disastrous strikes—Daily Telegraph, 1970

☒

My feet got so sensitive I could sense the difference between tarvia, gravel, or concrete immediately—Islander (Victoria, bc), 1972.

Similarly, it is important to say between 1914 and 1918, or from 1914 to 1918 (also expressed as 1914–18), not between 1914–18. See also from.

4.
between each, between every.
Constructions such as 22 yards between each telegraph pole and pause between every mouthful are often deplored on the grounds that logical grammar calls for the addition of and the next to each group of words. Informally, however, this construction is typical and unexceptionable, although it is best avoided in more formal contexts. Examples:

The 30-minute headway between each bus reduced to a 50-minute headway—Courier-Mail (Brisbane), 1970.

The construction between every two is ambiguous as to 'between two' and 'between two pairs', and is best avoided.

5.
between you and i
, though found in Shakespeare (but so is between you and him, not he), is an example of hypercorrection, influenced perhaps by the purist insistence on sentences of the type 'Who's going?' 'Anne and I.' (in which Anne and me is also possible). Since between governs both pronouns, the correct construction is between you and me, between you and us, etc.:

Tiny bit boring, between you and me—Penelope Mortimer, 1962.

6.
repeated between.
In long sentences, there is always a temptation to insert a second between as a reminder of what the statement is about: You need to decide between voting for a party which, against all advice, introduced the poll tax, a form of tax first used in the 14th century, and one that dislikes the rates system but has no alternative to offer. Putting a second between before one that dislikes is tempting because of the length of the sentence but it would be ungrammatical, and the sentence would be better recast.

Previous:	better, bet, besiege
Next:	beware, bi-, biannual

Idioms beginning with between:
between you and me

See also betwixt and between; come between; draw a line between; fall between the cracks; few and far between; hit between the eyes; in between; in between times; read between the lines; tail between one's legs.

prep

Definition: middle from two points
Antonyms: around, away, away from, outside, separate

IN BRIEF: Joining or linking in a relationship.

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments. — Jim Rohn; American business philosopher and motivational speaker

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

sign description: The flat hand makes a back and forth motion between the thumb and index finger of the opposite hand.

---

For a list of words related to between, see:

• Prepositions
• Reflections and References
• Relative Positions - between: (prep) occupying the intermediate space or interval that separates; ’tween

---

See words rhyming with "between."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Between.

Common misspelling(s) of between

• vetween

Dansk (Danish)
prep. - mellem, imellem
adv. - ind imellem

idioms:

• between ourselves    i al fortrolighed, mellem os sagt
• between you and me    a al fortrolighed, mellem os sagt
• come between    komme imellem
• in between    ind imellem

Nederlands (Dutch)
tussen, onder, tussendoor

Français (French)
prep. - entre
adv. - au milieu, dans l'intervalle

idioms:

• between ourselves    entre nous
• between you and me    entre nous
• come between    s'interposer
• in between    entre

Deutsch (German)
prep. - zwischen, unter
adv. - dazwischen

idioms:

• between ourselves    unter uns
• between you and me    unter uns
• come between    dazwischen treten
• in between    dazwischen

Ελληνική (Greek)
prep. - μεταξύ, ανάμεσα (σε)

idioms:

• between ourselves    μεταξύ μας
• between you and me    μεταξύ μας, εμπιστευτικά
• come between    μεσολαβώ, μπαίνω ή παρεμβάλλομαι ανάμεσα σε
• in between    στο (ανα)μεταξύ, ενδιαμέσως

Italiano (Italian)
tra, fra

idioms:

• between ourselves    tra noi
• between you and me    tra noi due

Português (Portuguese)
prep. - entre, no meio de

idioms:

• between ourselves    só entre nós, em segredo
• between you and me    entre você e eu
• come between    separar
• in between    em algum ponto entre

Русский (Russian)
между

idioms:

• between ourselves    между нами
• between you and me    между нами
• come between    разделить
• in between    посредине, нечто среднее

Español (Spanish)
prep. - entre, en confianza
adv. - entre medias, entre medio, en medio

idioms:

• between ourselves    entre nosotros
• between you and me    entre tú y yo
• come between    interponerse entre, dividir, separar
• in between    intermedio

Svenska (Swedish)
prep. - mellan

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
在...之间, 连接着..., 介乎...之间, 来往于...之间, 在中间, 介乎两者之间

idioms:

• between ourselves    秘密地, 别告诉别人
• between you and me    只有我们两人知道, 你我私下说说不足为外人道
• come between    居...之间, 离开
• in between    在中间

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
prep. - 在...之間, 連接著..., 介乎...之間, 來往於...之間
adv. - 在中間, 介乎兩者之間

idioms:

• between ourselves    秘密地, 別告訴別人
• between you and me    只有我們兩人知道, 你我私下說說不足為外人道
• come between    居...之間, 離開
• in between    在中間

한국어 (Korean)
prep. - 의 사이에, ~이기도 하고
adv. - 사이에

idioms:

• come between    ~의 사이에 들다[이간하다]
• in between    사이에

日本語 (Japanese)
prep. - 間に, 二者のうち一つを, 中間で
adv. - 両者間に, どっちつかずに

idioms:

• between a rock and a hard place    ジレンマに陥って
• between ourselves    内緒だが
• between the devil and the deep blue sea    進退きわまって
• between you and me    ここだけの話だが
• come between    中に入る, 仲を裂く, 人が…するのを妨げる
• in between    中間に, 中にはさまれて, 間に

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(حرف جر) بين, ما بين‏

עברית (Hebrew)
prep. - ‮באמצע, בין, בין השניים‬
adv. - ‮באמצע, בין, בין השניים‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.