(anthropology, philosophy, sociology, psychology) The state or quality of ambiguity which exists in the middle stage of certain events or rituals (such as a rite of passage or a society-wide revolution), during which the participating individual or group no longer holds its pre-ritual status but has not yet attained the status it will hold when the ritual has been completed.
1998 , Joseph Frederick Bailey , Theorizing night vision: Novalis's "Hymnen an die Nacht." , The second way Novalis seeks to repotentize his thought is by striving to evoke feelings conducive to liminality.
