threshold
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the floor at the bottom of a doorway that you step over to enter a room or building.
the piece of wood or stone which lies under a door; a sill that must be crossed to enter a structure.
Simple“He paused at the threshold of the house, hesitant to step inside.”
In context“The traditional custom involved the groom carrying the bride over the threshold to ensure good luck in their new home.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
the point just before a new situation or a big change starts.
the point of entering or beginning a new state, period, or experience.
Simple“The young graduates felt they were on the threshold of a new life.”
In context“The discovery of the new vaccine placed the medical community on the threshold of a revolutionary era in preventative care.”
Antonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
the level or point at which something starts to happen or change.
the magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomenon, or condition to occur.
Simple“Some people have a very low threshold for pain and feel it quickly.”
In context“The sensor is programmed to ignore minor vibrations until they reach a specific threshold that indicates a potential structural failure.”
- 04 C2 Proficiency
the very beginning of the part of a runway where a plane can land.
the beginning of that portion of the runway usable for landing.
Simple“The pilot lined up the aircraft with the runway threshold for a smooth landing.”
In context“Heavy rain reduced visibility so much that the pilot could barely discern the threshold markings during the final approach.”
Usage low threshold
“While Saturday will still feel very warm in south-eastern areas of England, temperatures will have mostly come down below the heatwave threshold of 28C, marking an end to the current heatwave.”
“It also calls for the government to abolish the social care savings threshold for working-age people and equalise staff pay between social care and the NHS.”
From Middle English threschwolde, threscholde, from Old English þresċold, þerxold, þrexwold (“doorsill, entryway”), from Proto-Germanic þreskudlaz, þreskūþlijaz, þreskwaþluz, from Proto-Germanic þreskaną, þreskwaną (“to thresh, (originally) to tread”), from Proto-Indo-European terh₁- (“to rub, turn”). Cognate with Low German Drüssel (“threshold”), dialectal German Drischaufel, Drissufle, Trüschübel (“threshold”), Danish tærskel (“threshold”), Norwegian terskel (“threshold”), Swedish tröskel (“threshold”), dialectal Swedish träskvald (“threshold”), Icelandic þröskuldur (“threshold”). Pronunciations such as “thresh-hold” are un-etymological and result from analogy with hold.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.