THRESHOLD

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does threshold mean? 

• THRESHOLD (noun)
  The noun THRESHOLD has 5 senses:

1. the starting point for a new state or experience

2. the smallest detectable sensation

3. the entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close

4. the sill of a door; a horizontal piece of wood or stone that forms the bottom of a doorway and offers support when passing through a doorway

5. a region marking a boundary

  Familiarity information: THRESHOLD used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• THRESHOLD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The starting point for a new state or experience

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Context example:

on the threshold of manhood

Hypernyms ("threshold" is a kind of...):

beginning; commencement; first; get-go; kickoff; offset; outset; showtime; start; starting time (the time at which something is supposed to begin)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The smallest detectable sensation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

limen; threshold

Hypernyms ("threshold" is a kind of...):

aesthesis; esthesis; sensation; sense datum; sense experience; sense impression (an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "threshold"):

absolute threshold (the lowest level of stimulation that a person can detect)

difference limen; difference threshold; differential limen; differential threshold (the smallest change in stimulation that a person can detect)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

door; doorway; room access; threshold

Context example:

he stuck his head in the doorway

Hypernyms ("threshold" is a kind of...):

entrance; entranceway; entree; entry; entryway (something that provides access (to get in or get out))

Meronyms (parts of "threshold"):

case; casing (the enclosing frame around a door or window opening)

door (a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle)

doorcase; doorframe (the frame that supports a door)

doorsill; doorstep; threshold (the sill of a door; a horizontal piece of wood or stone that forms the bottom of a doorway and offers support when passing through a doorway)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "threshold"):

exterior door; outside door (a doorway that allows entrance to or exit from a building)

Holonyms ("threshold" is a part of...):

wall (an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The sill of a door; a horizontal piece of wood or stone that forms the bottom of a doorway and offers support when passing through a doorway

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

doorsill; doorstep; threshold

Hypernyms ("threshold" is a kind of...):

sill (structural member consisting of a continuous horizontal timber forming the lowest member of a framework or supporting structure)

Holonyms ("threshold" is a part of...):

door; doorway; room access; threshold (the entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A region marking a boundary

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

brink; threshold; verge

Hypernyms ("threshold" is a kind of...):

bound; boundary; edge (a line determining the limits of an area)

 Context examples 

Although transiently expressed during cell cycle in normal cells, Hsps are constitutively elevated in various types of cancer which raises the apoptosis threshold of these tumor cells and provides protection against cytotoxic agents.

(Heat Shock Protein Inhibitor, NCI Thesaurus)

Normal cells are spared because the increase in the level of oxidative stress induced by this agent is below the threshold at which apoptosis is induced.

(Elesclomol, NCI Thesaurus)

Note that other thresholds may be applicable.

(AV Block First Degree by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

All this I saw in the first glance after I crossed the threshold—child-like, according to my theory—and then Peggotty opened a little door and showed me my bedroom.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

An additional 1,327 candidates are more likely than not to be actual planets, but they do not meet the 99 percent threshold and will require additional study.

(Kepler Mission Announces Largest Collection of Planets Ever Discovered, NASA)

The hall-door, which was half of glass, stood open; I stepped over the threshold.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Oh, I see what you're at—there; and he threw down three or four gold pieces on the threshold.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Brissenden advanced through the darkness till a thread of light marked the threshold of a door.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He thought it so beautiful that he got up and ran out, and as he crossed the threshold he lost one of his slippers.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Thresholds for different age, gender, and patient populations exist.

(Borderline QTcB, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)