"liminal space" meaning in All languages combined

See liminal space on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: liminal spaces [plural]
Etymology: From liminal (“of or pertaining to an entrance or threshold”) + space, due to originally focusing on "in-between" spaces such as hallways and stairwells. Head templates: {{en-noun}} liminal space (plural liminal spaces)
  1. (aesthetic) A depiction of an empty or abandoned place, often made to appear unsettling, surreal, or nostalgic. Categories (topical): Aesthetics
    Sense id: en-liminal_space-en-noun-rHaKdaWY Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 46 54
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see liminal, space. Related terms: Backrooms, kenopsia
    Sense id: en-liminal_space-en-noun-IUqorF3f Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 46 54 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 41 59 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 34 66

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From liminal (“of or pertaining to an entrance or threshold”) + space, due to originally focusing on \"in-between\" spaces such as hallways and stairwells.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "liminal spaces",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "liminal space (plural liminal spaces)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Aesthetics",
          "orig": "en:Aesthetics",
          "parents": [
            "Philosophy",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "46 54",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2022 November 1, Jake Pitre, “The Eerie Comfort of Liminal Spaces”, in The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-01:",
          "text": "In fact, the most uncanny contemporary liminal spaces combine the familiarity of, say, a New York City tourist magnet with an unnatural emptiness. Then again, a liminal space can be somewhere you could imagine dreaming about or seeing on TV. It can be tinged with tragedy or just inexplicably sad in its ordinariness. Liminal spaces can be both comforting and discomforting, nostalgic and unsettling, intimate and unnatural.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A depiction of an empty or abandoned place, often made to appear unsettling, surreal, or nostalgic."
      ],
      "id": "en-liminal_space-en-noun-rHaKdaWY",
      "links": [
        [
          "aesthetic",
          "aesthetic"
        ],
        [
          "empty",
          "empty#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "abandoned",
          "abandoned#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "unsettling",
          "unsettling#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "surreal",
          "surreal#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "nostalgic",
          "nostalgic#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "aesthetic",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(aesthetic) A depiction of an empty or abandoned place, often made to appear unsettling, surreal, or nostalgic."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "46 54",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "41 59",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "34 66",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021 September 30, Elisabeth Vincentelli, “Review: In ’Never Let Go,’ a Solo Performer’s Heart Goes On”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-26:",
          "text": "Michael Kinnan's sendup of \"Titanic\" explores the liminal space between tribute and affectionate satire.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see liminal, space."
      ],
      "id": "en-liminal_space-en-noun-IUqorF3f",
      "links": [
        [
          "liminal",
          "liminal#English"
        ],
        [
          "space",
          "space#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "word": "Backrooms"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "word": "kenopsia"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "liminal space"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From liminal (“of or pertaining to an entrance or threshold”) + space, due to originally focusing on \"in-between\" spaces such as hallways and stairwells.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "liminal spaces",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "liminal space (plural liminal spaces)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "Backrooms"
    },
    {
      "word": "kenopsia"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Aesthetics"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2022 November 1, Jake Pitre, “The Eerie Comfort of Liminal Spaces”, in The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-11-01:",
          "text": "In fact, the most uncanny contemporary liminal spaces combine the familiarity of, say, a New York City tourist magnet with an unnatural emptiness. Then again, a liminal space can be somewhere you could imagine dreaming about or seeing on TV. It can be tinged with tragedy or just inexplicably sad in its ordinariness. Liminal spaces can be both comforting and discomforting, nostalgic and unsettling, intimate and unnatural.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A depiction of an empty or abandoned place, often made to appear unsettling, surreal, or nostalgic."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "aesthetic",
          "aesthetic"
        ],
        [
          "empty",
          "empty#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "abandoned",
          "abandoned#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "unsettling",
          "unsettling#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "surreal",
          "surreal#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "nostalgic",
          "nostalgic#Adjective"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "aesthetic",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(aesthetic) A depiction of an empty or abandoned place, often made to appear unsettling, surreal, or nostalgic."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2021 September 30, Elisabeth Vincentelli, “Review: In ’Never Let Go,’ a Solo Performer’s Heart Goes On”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-26:",
          "text": "Michael Kinnan's sendup of \"Titanic\" explores the liminal space between tribute and affectionate satire.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see liminal, space."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "liminal",
          "liminal#English"
        ],
        [
          "space",
          "space#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "liminal space"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-31 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (bcd5c38 and 9dbd323). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.