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liminality

/ˌlɪməˈnælɪti/
IPA guide

Other forms: liminalities

Liminality is a quality of being in between two places or stages, on the verge of transitioning to something new. There's a liminality to the brief moment between being asleep and being fully awake.

Periods of liminality are transitional, sometimes disorienting, and frequently involve waiting for something new to begin. A good example is the summer after high school graduation; whether you're starting college in the fall or looking for a job, you're on the verge of crossing a threshold into a new stage of your life. Liminality is rooted in this idea of a threshold (limen in Latin), a kind of doorway between the past and the future.

Definitions of liminality
  1. noun
    a transitional state from one stage to the next, as of a technical process
  2. noun
    an unspecified position in relation to a boundary or threshold
  3. noun
    (anthropology) transitional period during a rite of passage, during which the participant has an undefined status
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