borderline

CEFRB2

/ˈboɹ.dɚˌlaɪn/

noun · adjective · adverb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A line marking a boundary or a condition close to another.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Exhibiting borderline personality disorder.

Examples

  • You really ought to wash your hands of this borderline illegal work.

  • Layla suffered from borderline personality disorder.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
3
Citations
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meaning

  1. Of questionable taste or acceptability; approaching bad taste.

adjective

Extra meaning

  1. Nearly; not clearly on one side or the other of a border or boundary, ambiguous.

adverb

Extra meaning

  1. Nearly; not entirely but nevertheless to a great extent.

More examples

In context

  • He is borderline hypoglycemic and needs to monitor his sugar intake.

  • I would rather hire a talented layman than a university graduate with borderline qualifications.

  • Your borderline remarks about my aunt’s dress destroyed my evening.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Her test score was blank, so the teacher decided to give her extra credit.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From border + line.