borderline
/ˈboɹ.dɚˌlaɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.34 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of questionable taste or acceptability; approaching bad taste.
adv
Nearly; not entirely but nevertheless to a great extent.
Example Sentences
- "I would rather hire a talented layman than a university graduate with borderline qualifications."
- "It recalls the business case for Scotland's reopening of the Borders Railway to Tweedbank, that British Rail closed in 1969. The review says the business case for this was at best borderline, but goes on to say that the case greatly underestimated passenger demand and that the railway Scotland built has capped its capacity."
- "Your borderline remarks about my aunt’s dress destroyed my evening."
- "She clearly has borderline and narcissistic features and she meets the criteria for a rapid cycling bipolar disorder, as well as for a generalized anxiety disorder. She has a severe binge eating disorder and has gained 65 pounds since[…]"
- "He is borderline hypoglycemic and needs to monitor his sugar intake."
- "I expected him to be super boring but he was actually borderline funny!"
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈboɹ.dɚˌlaɪn/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more borderline (comparative)
most borderline (superlative)
border-line (alternative)
borderlines (plural)
borderlines (present, singular)
borderlining (participle, present)
borderlined (participle, past)
borderlined (past)