strike a medium

English

Verb

strike a medium (third-person singular simple present strikes a medium, present participle striking a medium, simple past struck a medium, past participle struck a medium or (rare) stricken a medium)

1. To choose or provide a moderate option between two extremes.

   Synonym: strike a balance

   • 1740, David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature‎^[1], London: John Noon, Volume 3, Part 2, Section 6, p. 127:

     […] in references, where the consent of the parties leave the referees entire masters of the subject, they commonly discover so much equity and justice on both sides, as induces them to strike a medium, and divide the difference betwixt the parties.

   • 1919, Henry Blake Fuller, chapter 14, in Bertram Cope’s Year‎^[2], Chicago: R.F. Seymour, page 139:

     The telephone, as a conveyor of unwelcome messages, strikes a medium between the letter by mail and the face-to-face interview.

   • 1969, Ursula K. Le Guin, chapter 16, in The Left Hand of Darkness, New York: Ace, published 2019:

     We must compromise as to the heating of the tent. He would keep it hot, I cold, and either’s comfort is the other’s pneumonia. We strike a medium, and he shivers outside his bag, while I swelter in mine;