threshold
noun
Ray HainerTyler Spence
Did you know?
Whenever you leave your home, walk from one room to another, or enter a building, you are crossing a threshold—that is, the horizontal floor piece that you cross over whenever you move through a doorway. But the earliest uses of threshold refer to a different type of boundary: an Old English translation of Boethius’s De consolatione philosophiae uses the word in a sentence about how the sea was made so that it didn’t overstep the "threshold," or boundary, of the earth. In this translation, which was written around 888, threshold appears as þeorscwold (that first letter is called thorn and it was used in Old English and Middle English to indicate the sounds produced by th in thin and this). The origins of this Old English word are not known, though it is believed to be related to the Old English word threscan, from which we get the words thresh, meaning "to separate seed from (a harvested plant) using a machine or tool" and thrash, meaning, among other things, "to beat soundly with or as if with a stick or whip." But there's nothing in the historical record that directly ties threshing to the threshold.
Examples of threshold in a Sentence
Paul Salopek, National Geographic, April 2008
As we speak, the very worst of humanity is on the threshold of acquiring the most powerful weapons in history—this is a fear and a consideration to be taken very seriously.
—Charles Krauthammer, New Republic, 29 Apr. 2002
We thought that we were on the threshold of an age of space travel. But the greatest impact of the trip to the moon was on how we view the Earth.
—Suzannah Lessard, Wilson Quarterly, Summer 2001
He stepped across the threshold.
If your income rises above a certain threshold, your tax rate also rises.
Grace Gilson, Sun Sentinel, 9 Feb. 2026
As part of its analysis of the project, DEEP also determined the addition of the two new compressors would not meet the threshold for a major modification — which is subject to more stringent review — because the increase in ozone-forming pollutants would not exceed 25 tons per year.
—John Moritz, Hartford Courant, 9 Feb. 2026
But to a business owner who has weathered three decades on Archer Avenue, that spot is the threshold of their livelihood.
—Yunus Emre Tozal, Chicago Tribune, 9 Feb. 2026
An exclusion zone was established around the base of the building in the unlikely case of falling objects, and safety briefings governed everything from weather thresholds to airspace coordination.
—Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 9 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for threshold
Cite this Entry
“Threshold.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/threshold. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
threshold
noun
Medical Definition
threshold
noun
called also limen
Legal Definition
threshold
1 of 2 noun
threshold
2 of 2 adjectiveNoakes v. City of Seattle, 895 P.2d 842 (1995)
