borderline
Americanadjective
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on or near a border or boundary.
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having an uncertain, indeterminate, or debatable status.
He was a borderline case for admission to the program—please encourage him to apply again next year.
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not quite meeting accepted, expected, or average standards.
Discover specific how-to strategies for turning a borderline student into a confident achiever.
- Synonyms:
- marginal, unsure, precarious, doubtful
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approaching bad taste or obscenity.
He made several borderline remarks that offended them.
noun
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null border line.
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a border or boundary.
The town of Tiverton, Rhode Island, rests on the once-disputed Massachusetts borderline.
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a notional dividing line.
Often the borderline between safety and toxicity is very small, and every year thousands of fish die as a consequence of chemical overdosing.
-
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a person with borderline personality disorder.
noun
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a border; dividing line; line of demarcation
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an indeterminate position between two conditions or qualities
the borderline between friendship and love
adjective
Etymology
Origin of borderline
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It sounds borderline insane to consider that the only available team in America’s second-largest market might not be worth as much as the team that just sold in America’s 30th-largest market.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026
Savouri believes the focus of capital markets on this one data point is borderline obsessive and has bred an industry of forecasters.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026
For people with borderline or moderate risk, clinicians may use extra tests to guide decisions.
From Science Daily • Mar. 29, 2026
“Even 200 wins is borderline undoable unless they have a lot of good fortune.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 17, 2026
My grades and scores put me at the borderline.
From "Adrift" by Paul Griffin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
