limen
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does limen mean? A limen is a threshold or border between one thing and another. In psychology and physiology, the word more specifically refers to the point or threshold at which a sensation, such as pain, becomes strong enough to be experienced. In this sense, the limen is the dividing line between the sensation being too faint to be noticed and the point where it starts to be felt. In medicine, limen refers to the opening or entrance to a body part, such as an anatomical canal. The adjective liminal can be used for all senses of the word limen to describe things that are located or exist at such a point. The state of existing at such a point is called liminality. The correct plural of limen can be either limens or limina. Example: This study will attempt to identify the limen at which the sensation of pain can be experienced by a patient.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of limen
First recorded in 1890–95, limen is from the Latin word līmen
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Do you see that you leave all your Cares and melancholy Airs at Home, and bring nothing hither but Jokes and Merriment; and as Juvenal says, _Protenus ante meum, quicquid dolet, exue limen.
From Colloquies of Erasmus, Volume I. by Erasmus, Desiderius
The lowest and highest intensity points of sensation are called the lower and upper limen, or threshold, respectively.
From The Mind and Its Education by Betts, George Herbert
According to Quinn, the ad limina visits—obligatory meetings between bishops and the pope, during which each bishop reports on the state of his diocese—that take place every five years have not been very useful either.
From Time ● Oct. 13, 2014
The truly important issues never get talked about in ad limina visits,” says Quinn.
From Time ● Oct. 13, 2014
When they were bishops, these men would also have been asked to report to Rome every five years for "ad limina" visits—or planning and prayer meetings with the pope and other officials.
From Slate ● Mar. 11, 2013
But he is back in combative form, penning a preview of his ad limina thoughts for the Jesuit magazine America.
From Time Magazine Archive
"There is a spell about the limina Apostolorum," said Charles; "St. Peter and St. Paul are not there for nothing."
From Loss and Gain The Story of a Convert by Newman, John Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
