borderline

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈboɹ.dɚˌlaɪn/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is a compound, from English border + line.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A line of demarcation, a boundary line (1819 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged; 1847 in Etymonline, as a strip of land along a frontier).^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The noun first named a boundary, often used figuratively of the line between two qualities or conditions.^[5][6] As an adjective it meant first situated at or near a border (1880),^[4] then verging on a given quality or condition, attested from 1903, originally in medical use.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates the adjective to 1907,^[7] and the Historical Thesaurus records the “of indeterminate character” sense from 1937,^[5] including borderline case and the meaning “verging on the indecent”.^[5] In psychiatry it describes a condition of unstable mood, relationships and self-image, now called borderline personality disorder,^[8][7] and since 1977 a person with that disorder has been called a borderline.^[4] An adverb use, “almost” (borderline tacky), dates from 1925.^[7][4]

Timeline

• 1819 – a boundary line.^[4]
• 1847 – a strip of land along a frontier.^[2]
• 1880 – as an adjective, situated at a border.^[4]
• 1903 – verging on, originally medical.^[2]
• 1925 – as an adverb, almost.^[7][4]
• 1977 – a person with borderline personality disorder.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A line that marks a border; a boundary.
2. An indefinite area between two qualities or conditions.
3. A person with borderline personality disorder.

Adjective

1. Verging on a quality or condition without clearly belonging to it; marginal.
2. Of doubtful quality or acceptability.
3. (psychiatry) Relating to a pattern of instability in mood, relationships and self-image.
4. Situated at or near a border.

Adverb

1. Almost, nearly.

Related words

• border
• frontier
• marginal

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin