borderline C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities Also spelled border-line US /ˈbɔrdərlaɪn/ UK /ˈbɔːdəlaɪn/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adj barely acceptable or only just within a category; a boundary His test score was borderline, just shy of a pass. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · barely acceptable or only... marginaldoubtfulambiguousboundaryindeterminateequivocal ↔ Opposites clear-cutdefiniteunambiguous Word family Related forms borderlineborderland Etymology AI details A compound of border + line. Border comes from Old French bordure, from bord ('edge, side'), of Frankish origin; line from Latin līnea. bord Old English līnea Latin View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # borderline **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈbɔrdərlaɪn/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈbɔːdəlaɪn/ ## Meanings 1. barely acceptable or only just within a category; a boundary ## Examples - His test score was borderline, just shy of a pass. ## Synonyms - marginal - doubtful - ambiguous - boundary - indeterminate - equivocal ## Antonyms - clear-cut - definite - unambiguous ## Related Forms - border - line - borderland ## Roots and Affixes - Root: bord - Root: līnea ## Etymology A compound of border + line. Border comes from Old French bordure, from bord ('edge, side'), of Frankish origin; line from Latin līnea. ## AI Etymology Borderline is a compound of border + line. Border comes from Old French bordure, from bord ('edge, side'), of Frankish origin; line from Latin līnea. The historical trail runs through bord in Old French and līnea in Latin. Morphologically, borderline is transparent: it is a compound of border + line. Used as an adjective and noun, borderline now means "barely acceptable or only just within a category; a boundary", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as border, line, and borderland. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English. ## Topics - Describing Qualities markdown