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 of borderland

• 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

Residents of borderlands are by definition bilingual; their cultures mixed and distinctive. — Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 24 June 2026

These are the ports, pipelines, and oil refineries of Shandong province and its borderlands, where the hulking architecture of oil storage tanks and spindly profiles of smokestacks jut up from barren, coastal flatlands. — Simone McCarthy, CNN Money, 12 May 2026

Karla Cordero is a Chicana educator whose work lives in our borderlands and bridges community into artistry by curating open mics and an online poetry journal. — Yesika Salgado, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2026

And in Istria, especially Croatian Istria but also Dubrovnik and across the borderlands of Slovenia and northeastern Italy, Malvasia takes a very different form. — Layne Randolph, Forbes.com, 27 June 2026

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