Adjacent Words

borderline definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of questionable or minimal quality; "borderline grades"; "marginal writing ability" [syn: borderline, marginal] n
1: a line that indicates a boundary [syn: boundary line, border, borderline, delimitation, mete]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Date: 1907 1. a. being in an intermediate position or state ; not fully classifiable as one thing or its opposite <a borderline state between waking and sleeping> b. not quite up to, typical of, or as severe as what is usual, standard, or expected <borderline intelligence> <borderline hypertension> c. characterized by psychological instability in several areas (as interpersonal relations, behavior, and identity) but only with brief or no psychotic episodes <a borderline personality disorder> 2. situated at or near a border <a borderline town> • borderline noun II. adverb Date: 1925 almost, nearly <borderline tacky> <borderline suicidal>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. 1 the line dividing two (often extreme) conditions. 2 a line marking a boundary. --adj. 1 on the borderline. 2 verging on an extreme condition; only just acceptable.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(borderlines) 1. The borderline between two different or opposite things is the division between them. ...a task which involves exploring the borderline between painting and photography. N-COUNT: usu N between/of n 2. Something that is borderline is only just acceptable as a member of a class or group. Some were obviously unsuitable and could be ruled out at once. Others were borderline cases. ADJ

Moby Thesaurus

ambiguous, bordering, boundary, bounding, coastal, determinant, determinative, determining, dubitable, equivocal, extreme, fringing, frontier, limbic, liminal, limit, limiting, littoral, marginal, open, problematic, rimming, skirting, terminal, threshold, uncertain, unclear, undecided, unsettled