Liminal is an English adjective meaning "on the threshold", from Latin ''līmen'', plural ''limina''. Liminal or Liminality may refer to:

Anthropology and religion

Liminality In anthropology, liminality () is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they w ...

, the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage *

Liminal deity A liminal deity is a god or goddess in mythology who presides over thresholds, gates, or doorways; "a crosser of boundaries". Types of liminal deities include dying-and-rising deities, various agricultural deities, psychopomps and those who d ...

, a god or goddess in mythology who presides over thresholds, gates, or doorways *

Liminal being Liminal beings are those that cannot easily be placed into a single category of existence. Associated with the threshold state of liminality, from Latin ''līmen'', "threshold", they represent and highlight the semi-autonomous boundaries of the so ...

, mythical being of ambiguous existence * Liminal state, English translation of

bardo In some schools of Buddhism, ''bardo'' ( xct, བར་དོ་ Wylie: ''bar do'') or ''antarābhava'' (Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese: 中有, romanized in Chinese as ''zhōng yǒu'' and in Japanese as ''chū'u'') is an intermediate, transitio ...

in Tibetan Buddhism

Arts and media

* ''

Liminal States ''Liminal States'' is a novel by Zack Parsons, published in March 2012. The story principally follows two men, Warren Groves and Gideon Long, who become immortal in 1874 through a process they don't fully understand. Over the course of three s ...

'', a 2012 novel by Zack Parsons * '' .hack//Liminality'', an animated series related to the ''.hack'' video game series * ''Liminal'', a student literary journal at

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, United States * ''Liminal'', a 2017 remix album by Sigur Rós * '' Liminal'', a 2022 album by Petbrick *

Liminal spaces In anthropology, liminality () is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they w ...

, empty places that appear eerie

Psychology

Limen In physiology, psychology, or psychophysics, a limen or a liminal point is a sensory threshold of a physiological or psychological response. It is the boundary of perception. On one side of a limen (or threshold) a stimulus is perceivable, on the ...

, a threshold of a physiological or psychological response * Liminal experiences, feelings of abandonment (existentialism) associated with death, illness, disaster, etc.

Anthropology and religion

Arts and media

Psychology

See also