From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishborderlinebor‧der‧line1 /ˈbɔːdəlaɪn $ ˈbɔːrdər-/ ●○○ adjective 1 UNCERTAINvery close to not being acceptable In borderline cases, the student’s coursework is considered, as well as exam grades. The referee’s decision was borderline.2 [usually before noun] having qualities of both one situation, state etc and another more extreme situation or state a borderline schizophrenic (=someone who has some signs of being mentally ill)
Examples from the Corpus
borderline• Lower rates can help some borderline borrowers qualify for loans.• A borderline case, and then deindustrialization had pushed him over the edge.• In borderline cases we look at a student's class work to decide the final exam result.• It was a borderline decision whether to send him to prison or not.• Some of this borderline recklessness goes with the territory.• Caitlin's grades are borderline. She'll have to work harder.• Johnson's arguments range from ridiculous to borderline slander.• a borderline studentborderline cases• A further 19 percent of this sample were judged to be borderline cases.• This will provide an opportunity for lecturers and moderators to discuss student grades and borderline cases.• Moderators may request, in borderline cases, and otherwise at their discretion to see student's marked coursework assignments.• None of these definitions is entirely straight forward because borderline cases can easily be found.• The borderline cases here are instructive.• In borderline cases moderators may request to see students' marked assignments.borderlineborderline2 noun 1 [singular]FINISH/COME TO AN END the point at which one quality, situation, emotion etc ends and another begins She slipped over the borderline into sleep.on the borderline I was on the borderline between a first- and a second-class degree.2 [countable]SG a border between two countriesExamples from the Corpus
borderline• As far as he was concerned, there was no longer a borderline.• The communal borderline between Chouilly and Cramant slices through the middle of these slopes, the higher vines belonging to Chouilly.• For more demanding purposes still more is required, and it is often hard to decide just where to fix the borderline.• Gilsland, near Lanercost Abbey, was only fifteen miles from the borderline at Kirkandrews.• One could answer this by suggesting that here we are on the borderline between social and physiological laws.• the borderline between affection and loveon the borderline• The result is an expensive machine: fine for the military, but always on the borderline of profitability.• One could answer this by suggesting that here we are on the borderline between social and physiological laws.• Between 1660 and 1669 his diary illustrates the insecurities of the Restoration for a man on the borderline of Nonconformity.• We're on the borderline of having to ration water.• It was no accident that a good many towns were sited on the borderline between arable farming and pastoral regions.• His was a lifetime spent on the borderline between chutzpah and hubris.• This includes students who are moderated from pass to fail as well as those on the borderline between two classes of degree. 