English Explanatory Dictionary

liminal

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj

Of or pertaining to an entrance or threshold.
Pertaining to or in a state that is in-between or transitional between two (or more) other states, while belonging to neither; pertaining to or in a state such as to be neither definitively in a particular other state or category nor definitively outside it.
Of or pertaining to a beginning or first stage of a process.

Pronunciation

/ˈlɪmən(ə)l/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-liminal.wav

Word forms

liminal more liminal most liminal

Etymology

From Latin limināris, from līmen (“doorstep, threshold; doorway, entrance; beginning, commencement”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Līmen is possibly derived from līmus (“askew; sideways”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Heh₃l- (“to bend, bow; elbow”)) + -men (suffix forming neuter nouns of the third declension) (from Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ (suffix forming action nouns or result nouns from verbs)).

Synonyms

Related words

delimit delimitation limit limitation limited limitedly limitedness limitless limitlessly unlimited unlimitedly unlimitedness

Derived words

liminality liminary

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

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