borderline

[bawr-der-lahyn]

adjective

1. on or near a border or boundary.

2. having an uncertain, indeterminate, or debatable status.

   He was a borderline case for admission to the program—please encourage him to apply again next year.

3. not quite meeting accepted, expected, or average standards.

   Discover specific how-to strategies for turning a borderline student into a confident achiever.

   Synonyms: marginal, unsure, precarious, doubtful

4. approaching bad taste or obscenity.

   He made several borderline remarks that offended them.

noun

1. null border line.

   1. a border or boundary.

      The town of Tiverton, Rhode Island, rests on the once-disputed Massachusetts borderline.

   2. a notional dividing line.

      Often the borderline between safety and toxicity is very small, and every year thousands of fish die as a consequence of chemical overdosing.

2. a person with borderline personality disorder.

borderline

/ ˈbɔːdəˌlaɪn /

noun

1. a border; dividing line; line of demarcation

2. an indeterminate position between two conditions or qualities

   the borderline between friendship and love

adjective

1. on the edge of one category and verging on another

   a borderline failure in the exam

Word History and Origins

Origin of borderline¹

First recorded in 1865–70; border + line ¹

Example Sentences

I knew I had become a borderline alcoholic, but I told myself it was no big deal, because I drank only at night, never during the day.

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And reversing it, some experts fear, may be borderline impossible.

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“Now, I have a kid in front of me, and they’re borderline, I might assign them the diagnosis because they’ll get the services I think they need.”

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The results were predictably ridiculous — and, in a few cases, borderline dangerous.

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McCarthy believes bioenergy is one of those ways — essentially, by selling the least valuable, borderline unusable vegetation from the forest floor.

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Related Words

• marginal