liminality

English

Etymology

liminal +‎ -ity

Noun

liminality (countable and uncountable, plural liminalities)

  1. (anthropology, philosophy, sociology, psychology) The state or quality of ambiguity which exists in the middle stage of certain events or rituals (such as a rite of passage or a society-wide revolution), during which the participating individual or group no longer holds its pre-ritual status but has not yet attained the status it will hold when the ritual has been completed.
    • 1998, Joseph Frederick Bailey, Theorizing night vision: Novalis's "Hymnen an die Nacht.", page 209:
      The second way Novalis seeks to repotentize his thought is by striving to evoke feelings conducive to liminality.
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