liminal

adjective

Definition of liminalnext
as in subtle
barely perceptible by a sense or by the mind They studied how the subjects were affected by different sounds played at liminal intensity.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of liminal The series of videos was inspired by a meme created on 4chan in 2019, which has seen internet users uploading images of eerie, liminal spaces. — Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 19 June 2026 Weddings are like airports–liminal spaces that exist out of time and definable space. — Bobby Finger june 16, Literary Hub, 16 June 2026 There are likely more of us than ever before stuck in this liminal state, trying to figure out when to stop IVF. — Heather Grossmann, Parents, 16 June 2026 This analysis connects the obsession with liminal spaces to many of Gen Zers’ experience coming of age during Covid-19. — Zoya Hasan, Forbes.com, 12 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for liminal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for liminal
  1. subtle
  2. faint
  3. unseen
  4. slight
  5. invisible
Adjective
  • One subtle change, however, was his emphasis on spending Year 1 and building a foundation with the Tigers.
    — Seth Emerson, New York Times, 24 July 2026
  • Researchers have since modified other proteins to interact with Cas9 but catalyze more subtle changes to DNA, such as lopping off a single base or making chemical modifications that alter how it base-pairs.
    — ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 24 July 2026
Definition of subtle
Adjective
  • By adding together the images taken on a single spot, fainter objects become visible.
    — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 24 July 2026
  • The beautiful double star Albireo — one bright yellow and the other a fainter blue — sits at the beak of Cygnus, the Swan.
    — Jamie Carter, Space.com, 24 July 2026
Definition of faint
Adjective
  • In comparison, those trained with 180 combinations reached around 85 percent, demonstrating that varied linguistic exposure dramatically improved their ability to understand previously unseen instructions.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 23 July 2026
  • But that selflessness comes to feel like the point of this lingering, resonantly sad film — above all else, an elegy for lives unseen and unknown.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 23 July 2026
Definition of unseen
Adjective
  • There were four outlandish, outcast characters, whom Goldberg utterly embodied with something as slight as the crossing of her eyes or the dragging of her leg.
    — Doreen St. Félix, New Yorker, 25 July 2026
  • That total marks a slight increase in applications from the previous year, when the department reported receiving 52,529.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 25 July 2026
Definition of slight
Adjective
  • What won the World Cup was the invisible connection between the bodies that ultimately beat him.
    — Bhaskar Chakravorti, Fortune, 25 July 2026
  • Ultimately, containers are supposed to behave almost like bits of data, moving across land and sea as if along invisible data lines.
    — Alexander Klose, Scientific American, 24 July 2026
Definition of invisible

Browse Nearby Words

limeys
liminal
limit
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Cite this Entry

“Liminal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/liminal. Accessed 27 Jul. 2026.

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