Word of the day · 2 August 2026
liminal
/ˈlɪmɪnəl/
adjective
Relating to a threshold or transitional stage between two states.
In a sentence
- Graduation week felt liminal: no longer students, not yet staff.
- Airports are liminal zones of delayed time and borrowed light.
- The novel lives in a liminal city between dream and map.
In an image
Origin
From Latin limen (threshold), via anthropological use of liminality.
History
Anthropologist Arnold van Gennep described rites of passage with a liminal middle stage. Victor Turner later expanded the idea in cultural theory. Designers and writers adopted liminal for airports, dusk and other threshold spaces. The word thrives wherever identity or place feels suspended.
Nearby words
transitional · threshold · in-between
The in-between space where one chapter has ended and the next has not begun.