liminal space

American  

[lim-uh-nl speys] / ˈlɪm ə nl ˈspeɪs /

noun

1. a state or place characterized by being transitional or intermediate in some way: In the film, Venice is a liminal space where the real and imaginary meet.

   Motels are such liminal spaces—everyone there is either coming or going.

   In the film, Venice is a liminal space where the real and imaginary meet.

2. Informal. any location that is unsettling, uncanny, or dreamlike.

   The classroom when school is out for the summer is a liminal space.

---

Etymology

Origin of liminal space

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

The chunk of time between the day after Christmas and that first full week in January — when most people find themselves slogging back to work, their hearts and minds full of hopes, aspirations and wishes for a good stretch of luck in a brand new year — is truly a liminal space.

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

I merged onto Highway 101 South just after 1 a.m., and found myself almost alone on the six-lane expressway, hurtling through an endless and open liminal space, through pools of pale-orange public lighting, past signals blinking to no one.

From The Wall Street Journal

He was, in a sense, living in the liminal space of Halloween.

From Salon