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# borderline

«borderline» in Mova's school dictionary: **Only just on one side of a line between two groups or…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (borderline); noun (a borderline, borderlines)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (adjective) Only just on one side of a line between two groups or results, so it is hard to decide which: a borderline pass. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/borderline/#m1)

2) (noun) A line that marks a border. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/borderline/#m2)

3) (medicine) Close to being an illness or problem but not quite. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/borderline/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In school, a borderline mark is just at the pass mark, so the teacher must decide. In everyday life, «that's borderline rude» means almost rude. In health, «borderline high blood pressure».

### examples

- His test score was borderline, so he might need to retake it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/borderline/#x1)
- That joke was borderline mean. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/borderline/#x2)
- She was a borderline case for the team. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/borderline/#x3)
- The doctor said Grandad's sugar levels are borderline. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/borderline/#x4)
- Draw a borderline between the two fields. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/borderline/#x5)

### note

In maths terms, borderline means very close to the cut-off number: if the pass mark is 50 and you get 49 or 51, that's borderline. One word.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «borderline» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/borderline/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.