Liminal: Related to a threshold. Used especially in relation to a psychological state between existential planes (a liminal state between life and death). From Latin limin or limen, "threshold."
Liminal is also occasionally used in architecture to refer to a physical threshold. In physics, liminal refers to the least amount (of energy, for example) required to produce an effect.
A legal term, in limine, is linguistically related. A motion in limine ("at the threshold") is a request submitted to the court in an attempt to exclude evidence during trial, usually to shield the jury from possibly prejudicial evidence.
Hat tip to trademark lawyer Ron Coleman, who casually dropped in limine into a tweet and sent me to The Google.
UPDATE: I wrote this post over the weekend. This morning my A Word a Day subscription brought me--yep, you guessed it, "liminal." Coincidence? Maybe we're all feeling as though we're on the threshold of something.
Comments