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liminality

liminality

1 9.9
A time when someone or something is between two stages and not sure what comes next
  • noun
  • /ˌlɪməˈnælɪti/
translation icon : liminalidad
  • Traveling between two countries can create a sense of liminality, where one feels neither fully here nor there.
  • a period of liminality

Examples

  • Not all visions were sought; however, unsolicited dreams, often associated with times of liminality, could have powerful effects on Plains peoples.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Because the ritual of telling works to banish liminality and establish a coherent self, the truth of the narrative is secondary.

    Academic text (2018)
  • The second phase, transition or liminality, is "betwixt" and "between" social categories and states of being.

    Academic text (1994)
  • The frontier's closure coincides in the popular imagination with constructions of liminality, or boundary crossing.

    Academic text (1997)
  • There are parallels between spirits, wind, and perfume and incense; all are ephemeral, contagious, and associated with liminality.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Colonized histories divide our allegiances, situating artists and scholars in a fluctuating state of liminality.

    Academic text (2015)
  • During the ceremony, the participants felt a sense of liminality, caught between their old lives and the new paths ahead.

  • Many people experience a feeling of liminality when they are transitioning from adolescence to adulthood.

Synonyms

transition
vsliminality
449 3.7

A period of change from one state or stage to another

is the in-between condition itself rather than the process of change
limbo
vsliminality
47 6.3

A state in which a plan or request waits without a decision

is the transitional in-between state rather than enforced suspension or neglect
in limbo
vsliminality
27 7.2

Waiting without a clear decision or result

is the neutral between-phase often without implying neglect or suspension
state of flux
vsliminality
4 6.1

A time when things keep changing and nothing is certain

is the between-stage condition, not necessarily active or rapidly changing
no man's land
vsliminality
  • Informal
4 7.4

A situation between two clear sides where rules are unclear

describes being between stages but without geographic or combative sense
betweenness
vsliminality
7.5

Being in the middle between two or more things

is the temporary in-between phase often with uncertainty and transition

How Transitional

transition
449 3.7
liminality
1 9.9
interim
31 5.4
threshold
118 4.2
border
1.0

Surface Forms

liminality singular
liminalities plural

Morphology

liminality = liminal (transparent) = liminal + ity

Formed by the adjective 'liminal' plus the noun-forming suffix '-ity', directly meaning 'the state of being liminal'.

Etymology

The word liminality comes from the Latin word limen, which means 'threshold'. So liminality is like standing on a doorway, a time or place 'in between' two stages, a moment of change and uncertainty.