a. [f. L. līmin-, līmen threshold + -AL.] a. gen. Of or pertaining to the threshold or initial stage of a process. rare. b. spec. in Psychol. Of or pertaining to a ‘limen‘ or ‘threshold.’
1884. Mind, July, 428. The liminal difficulties cannot be evaded without the most disastrous consequences to the body of the exposition.
1884. J. Sully, Outlines Psychol., v. 114. Every stimulus must reach a certain intensity before any appreciable sensation results. This point is known as the threshold or liminal intensity.
1895. Titchener, Külpe’s Outl. Psychol., 243. We may also introduce the concept of the limen, defining the just noticeable deviation from indifference as a liminal pleasantness or unpleasantness.
