third way

third way (plural third ways)

1. An approach or solution which strives for an alternative to or middle ground between two opposing viewpoints. [from 17th c.]

   Synonym: via media

   • 1979, John Le Carré, Smiley's People, Folio Society, published 2010, page 358:

     It is a place of no compromise, thought Guillam, a place of no third way.

2. (politics) An ideology which seeks to find middle ground between right- and left-wing politics, associated during the 1990s with various centre-left political parties in Europe, North America, and Australia. [from 20th c.]

   Alternative form: Third Way

   • 2025 May 3, Leila Abboud, “Lunch with the FT: Jean-Luc Mélenchon”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 3:

     He believes the left must be radical—the opposite of the social democratic left or “Third Way” politics espoused by Bill Clinton and later Tony Blair, which he says betrayed the people to side with big business and the wealthy.

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see third,‎ way.

• golden mean