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... marginal doubtful ambiguous boundary indeterminate equivocal

Opposites

clear-cutdefinite unambiguous

Word family

Related forms border line borderland

Etymology

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

# 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

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