in-betweeny

in-betweeny

English

Etymology

in-between +‎ -y

Adjective

in-betweeny (comparative more in-betweeny, superlative most in-betweeny)

1. (informal) Of or pertaining to an in-between state.
   • 2005, Carole Cadwalladr, The Family Tree, Dutton (2005), →ISBN, page 141:

     She thought about the color black, the nature of blackness, and the in-betweeny shades therein.

   • 2007, Stephen Cottrell, Do Nothing to Change Your Life: Discovering What Happens When You Stop, Seabury Books (2008), →ISBN, page 3:

     I half slept and half woke and enjoyed for several hours that dreamy, in-betweeny state of living that hovers between consciousness and sleep.

   • 2007, Matt Seaton, Two Wheels: Thoughts from the Bike Lane, Guardian Books (2007), →ISBN, unnumbered page:

     Then there are those in-betweeny spring and autumn days when you're in two minds about what the “real-feel” temperature is — and no matter what you wear, it always seems to be the wrong thing.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:in-betweeny.

Noun

in-betweeny (plural in-betweenies)

1. (informal) Something in an in-between or intermediate state.
   • 1991, Stephanie Anne Lloyd (with Sandra Sedgbeer), Stephanie: A Girl in a Million, Ebury Press (1991), →ISBN, page 100:

     I was an in-betweeny, neither one thing nor the other, and though on the one hand it was frustrating and at times even made me feel freakish, there were also many occasions when my situation gave me cause for amusement.

   • 2005, John Lynch, Torn Water, Fourth Estate (2005), →ISBN, page 113:

     He calls her an 'in-betweeny', neither a Taig nor a Prod, and that^[sic] she should never have tried to be something she is not.

   • 2010, Peter Cheverton, Building the Value Machine: Transforming Your Business Through Collaborative Customer Partnerships, Kogan Page (2010), →ISBN, page 129:

     A suboptimal outcome usually results when a business vacillates between the two – becoming an 'in-betweeny' – or where there are tensions between key functions, pulling in opposite directions through their allegiance to different strategies.