threshold
UK/ˈθɹɛʃəʊld//ˈθɹɛ.ʃoʊld/
threshold noun: the lowermost part of a doorway that one crosses to enter; a sill.
Noun
threshold (plural thresholds)
- The lowermost part of a doorway that one crosses to enter; a sill.
- Near-synonym: doorstep
- An entrance; the door or gate of a house.
- Shy. You that did voide your rume vpon my beard, / And foote me as you ſpurne a ſtranger curre / Ouer your threſhold, […]c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Any end or boundary.
- The outset of something; the point of entry, or the beginning of an action.
- on the threshold of maturity
- I arrived at last, did obeisance to my uncle, and told him everything. He thought it over and said: ' […] At the threshold of death, how dare I give you permission to go to England, to cross the seas? But I will not stand in your way. It is your mother's permission which really matters. If she...1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xi
- The start of the landing area of a runway.
- The quantitative point at which an action is triggered, especially a lower limit.
- The wage or salary at which income tax becomes due.
- The point where one is mentally or physically vulnerable in response to a provocation or to other nuisances.
threshold meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
threshold in Hindi
- bottom-most part of a doorway
- डेवढ़ी ḍevṛhī
- point at which an action is triggered
- दहलीज़ dahlīz
threshold in Tamil
- கருஉணர்வு தொடக்க நிலை, தொடக்கநிலை, தொடக்கம், தொடக்க வாயில், வாசற்படி, மாறுநிலை
threshold in Marathi
- bottom-most part of a doorway
- उंबरठा umbarṭhā
threshold in Urdu
- bottom-most part of a doorway
- ڈیوڑی ḍeoṛī, ڈیوڑھی ḍeoṛhī, آسْتانَہ āstāna, دَرْگاہ dargāh
- point at which an action is triggered
- دہلیز dahlīz
More languagesFewer languages
- threshold in Bengali
- গোবরাট gōboraṭ
- threshold in Telugu
- గడప gaḍapa
- threshold in Malayalam
- പടി paṭi
- threshold in Kannada
- ಒಸಲು, ಹೊಸಲು, ಹೊಸತಿಲು, ಹೊಸ್ತಿಲು
- threshold in Punjabi
- ਡੇਉਢੀ ḍeuḍhī, ڈیوڈھی ḍeyoḍhī
- threshold in Gujarati
- ઉંબરો umbro
- threshold in Pashto
- آستانه āstāna, درګا dargā
- threshold in Tagalog
- gilid
- threshold in Arabic
- عَتَبَة ʕataba, بِدَايَة bidāya
- threshold in Malay
- ambang
- threshold in Indonesian
- ambang
- threshold in Thai
- ธรณีประตู tɔɔ-rá-nii-bprà-dtuu
- threshold in Vietnamese
- ngưỡng, ngưỡng cửa
- threshold in Myanmar
- တံခါးခုံ tamhka:hkum, ဖိနပ်ချွတ် hpi.naphkywat, အပေါက်ဝ a.pauk-wa.
Examples of threshold in a sentence
- He thought it over and said: ' […] At the threshold of death, how dare I give you permission to go to England, to cross the seas?1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xi
- To me it seems more probable that we are on the threshold of a much greater age.1951 March, John W. Cline, “The Future of Medicine”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 3, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical...
Synonyms of threshold
Antonyms
Forms of threshold
| plural | thresholds |
|---|
Origin of threshold
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 Bokmål terskel (“threshold”), Norwegian Nynorsk treskald (“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.
Words formed from threshold
- absolute threshold
- bithreshold
- cycle threshold
- Darwinian threshold
- displaced threshold
- election threshold
- epidemic threshold
- infrathreshold
- Micawber threshold
- pain threshold
- perithreshold
- photothreshold
- stereothreshold
- subthreshold
- superthreshold
- suprathreshold
- threshold braking
- thresholded
- threshold effect
- thresholder
- threshold of originality
- threshold potential
- threshold worker
- underthreshold
- thresholding
- thresholdless
- thresholdlike
Phrases with threshold
Words that rhyme with threshold
Questions about threshold
- What does threshold mean?
- Threshold means the lowermost part of a doorway that one crosses to enter; a sill.
- What is threshold in Hindi?
- Threshold in Hindi is डेवढ़ी (ḍevṛhī), दहलीज़ (dahlīz). See Threshold meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use threshold in a sentence?
- He thought it over and said: ' […] At the threshold of death, how dare I give you permission to go to England, to cross the seas?
- What part of speech is threshold?
- Threshold is a noun.
- How do you pronounce threshold?
- Threshold is pronounced /ˈθɹɛʃəʊld/ (UK).
- What is the plural of threshold?
- The plural of threshold is thresholds.
Words near threshold in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: threshold (page history and authors); threshold (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പടി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); threshold (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ڈیوڈھی (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ઉંબરો (Gujarati) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-threshold.ogg.
Cite this entry: “threshold.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/threshold. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.