This week's word is




adjective

ˈli-mə-nᵊl


1: of, relating to, or situated at a sensory threshold: barely perceptible or capable of eliciting a response - liminal visual stimuli

2: of, relating to, or being an intermediate state, phase, or condition: in-between, transitional
… in the liminal state between life and death.
—Deborah Jowitt


Did you know?

Liminal is a word for the in-between. It describes states, times, spaces, etc., that exist at a point of change—a metaphorical threshold—as in “the liminal zone between sleep and wakefulness.” The idea of a threshold is at the word’s root; it comes from Latin limen, meaning “threshold.” In technical use liminal means “barely perceptible” or “barely capable of eliciting a response,” and it has a familiar partner with a related meaning: subliminal can mean “inadequate to produce a sensation or a perception,” though it more often means “existing or functioning below the threshold of consciousness.” Limen has served as the basis for a number of other English words, including eliminate (“to cast out”), sublime (“lofty in conception or expression”), preliminary (“introductory”), and the woefully underused postliminary (“subsequent”).

From Merriam-Webster