liminal

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (6)  · 
“
Sometimes China's tolerance for the liminal is tactical.

View all »
Definitions (3)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Pertaining to the threshold or entrance; hence, relating to the beginning or first stage; inceptive; inchoative. Every stimulus must reach a certain intensity before any appreciable sensation results. This point is known as the threshold or liminal intensity. J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 114. The liminal difficulties cannot be evaded without the most disastrous consequences to the body of the exposition. Mind, IX. 428.
  2. Specifically In psychophysics, pertaiuing to the stimulus limen or differential limen. See limen. We may also introduce the concept of the limen, defining the just noticeable deviation from indifference as a liminal pleasantness or unpleasantness. O. Külpe (trans.), Outlines of Psychol., p. 243. The average liminal value obtained in these preliminary series gives us a norm or standard for the later work. E. B. Titchener, Exper. Psychol., I. i. 85.

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (47)

  • In each instance, this short-lived degradation enhances the long-term power of the ruling entity Dr. Christopher Bing, Ph.D.: At its worst, the liminal or liminoid event functions as a release for accumulated anxiety, thereby protecting the overall civilization.
  • TransAmerica-liminal geopolitical states make most policymakers squirm. —  Foreign Policy In Focus
  • Sometimes China's tolerance for the liminal is tactical. —  Foreign Policy In Focus
  • Winter Land Signals and Tuatuamoana 2 seemed similarly mysterious and liminal: somehow, they managed to be both sombre and bright. —  Reading the Maps
  • Solid State maps spatial dynamics that the human listener might interpret to be some kind of liminal space between dancing, grooving, and completely falling apart. —  PopMatters
More examples »
 

Tags

liminal hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 182 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin limen (limin-), threshold (cf. eliminate), + -al.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

If you'd like to prod us on getting a pronunciation for this word, sign in (or sign up) and let us know.

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a year.

Recently looked up

submissive · diddler · omnipotent · immeasurable · intersection

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

qualms · poofter · oh for heaven's sake · embodies · silence