liminal

American  

[lim-uh-nl] / ˈlɪm ə 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.

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liminal British  

/ ˈlɪmɪnəl /

adjective

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

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Usage

What does liminal mean? Liminal is an adjective that’s used to describe things that exist at the threshold (or border) between one thing and another.In psychology and physiology, the word more specifically means relating to the point (or threshold) beyond which a sensation becomes too faint to be experienced. In this way, liminal is an adjective form of the noun limen, which refers to this threshold.Example: After graduation, many students find themselves in a liminal state before they’re fully established in the workplace.

Etymology

Origin of liminal

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

Example Sentences

This summer, we rescued a panini press from our apartment building’s free table — one of those liminal spaces where abandoned houseplants and half-burned candles go to live out their second lives.

From Salon

All three sisters found themselves single, and the music inhabits that strange liminal space where you're relieved to be free, but not quite ready to move on.

From BBC

He was a deconstructionist jazz master of liminal space.

From Los Angeles Times

There’s a delicious little window between arrivals and the meal itself—a liminal pocket of time that begs for something bubbly and welcoming.

From Salon

The dissonance between the two keeps “Die My Love” unpredictable, but the film lives so long in that liminal state that its push-pull ultimately becomes one-note.

From Salon