borderland

noun

bor·​der·​land ˈbȯr-dər-ˌland 

1

a

: territory at or near a border

b

: fringe sense 3a

lives on the borderland of society

2

: a vague intermediate state or region

the borderland between fantasy and reality

Synonyms

• border

Examples of borderland in a Sentence

in the borderland between sleeping and waking

He describes adolescence as the tumultuous borderlands between childhood and adulthood.

Recent Examples on the Web

Then, in 2014, a group of birdwatchers in the Southern Arizona borderlands got tick bites and a weird fever. —Clara Migoya, AZCentral.com, 12 July 2025

Dozens of borderlands and bodies of water remain contested across the globe, often simmering with tension, and sometimes outright conflict. —Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 May 2025

Our goal for the project was to explore how Americana music has occupied a borderland in our culture’s sonic landscape and has captured the American experiment in song. —Sarah Blomeley, Time, 25 Apr. 2025

Smoke from both is drifting south, causing hazy skies across the borderland. —Joe Edwards, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1811, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

borderland

noun

bor·​der·​land ˈbȯrd-ər-ˌland 

1

: territory at or near a border : frontier

2

: an unclear condition or region separating two clearly different ones

the borderland between sleeping and waking