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

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

From Los Angeles Times

So I think it is part of our consciousness, this idea of water and river, and that being the borderline between life and death.”

From Salon

Popular myths, too, would portray the practice as borderline arcane.

From Los Angeles Times

In its story about Han's comments, Rolling Stone said the abuse had been "incredibly unhinged", with fan battles becoming "more intense, insane, and borderline psychotic with each weekly episode release".

From BBC

And a traditional standard of excellence now is an endangered species: the .300 batting average, a popular and easily understood statistic that has been devalued and rendered borderline worthless by baseball’s analytical revolution.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• marginal