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He stepped across the threshold.
If your income rises above a certain threshold, your tax rate also rises.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'threshold.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The earliest known use of "threshold" in the English language is from Alfred the Great's Old English translation of the Roman philosopher Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae. In this translation, which was written around 888, "threshold" appears as "þeorscwold" (that first letter is called a thorn and it was used in Old English and Middle English to indicate the sounds produced by "th" in "thin" and "this"). The origins of this Old English word are not known, though it is believed to be related to Old English "threscan," from which we get the words thresh, meaning "to separate seed from (a harvested plant) using a machine or tool" and "thrash," meaning, among other things "to beat soundly with or as if with a stick or whip."
First Known Use: before 12th century
in the meaning defined at sense 1
See Words from the same yearalpha, baseline, beginning, birth, commencement, dawn, day one, genesis, get-go (also git-go), inception, incipience, incipiency, kickoff, launch, morning, nascence, nascency, onset, outset, start;
close, conclusion, end, ending, omega;
cessation, closing, closure, completion, finale, finish, period, stop, termination, windup;
drawing board, first base, ground zero, square one;
creation, founding, inauguration, initiation, institution, origination;
cradle, fountain, fountainhead, germ, origin, root, seedbed, source, spring, well, wellspring;
: a piece of wood, metal, or stone that forms the bottom of a door and that you walk over as you enter a room or building
: the point or level at which something begins or changes
See words that rhyme with threshold Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for threshold Spanish Central: Translation of threshold Nglish: Translation of threshold for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of threshold for Arabic speakers
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