liminal

[ lim-uh-nl ]

adjective
  1. Psychology. of, relating to, or situated at the limen, the threshold at which a stimulus begins to produce an effect: The subjects' responses to liminal stimulation differed, with some responding and some not.

  2. of or relating to a transitional or intermediate state, stage, or period: Confusion can strike in the liminal states between waking and sleeping.The liminal period between adolescence and adulthood is a challenging place to be.Edwardian servants were liminal figures, existing in both upper- and lower-class society.: See also liminal space.

Origin of liminal

1
First recorded in 1875–80; from Latin līmin- (stem of līmen ) “threshold, lintel, sill” + -al1

Words Nearby liminal

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How to use liminal in a sentence

  • This may be technically expressed by saying that the liminal intensity (Schwelle) is raised during sleep.

    Illusions | James Sully
  • The supra-liminal returns into harmony with the subliminal; the individual life and the mass-life are reunited.

    The Drama of Love and Death | Edward Carpenter
  • Meantime we are aware also of a substratum of fragmentary automatic, liminal ideas, of which we take small account.

British Dictionary definitions for liminal

liminal

/ (ˈlɪmɪnəl) /


adjective
  1. psychol relating to the point (or threshold) beyond which a sensation becomes too faint to be experienced

Origin of liminal

1
C19: from Latin līmen threshold

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012