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threshold

/ˈθreʃhoʊld//ˈθreʃhəʊld/·noun
the point that must be crossed for something to begin or change
Fig. 1 — I come up to the doorway in steps that keep slowing — walk, pause, walk, pause — a dotted trail behind me showing how far I've already come to get here.
01Definition

A threshold is the strip of wood under a doorway — and, ever since, every point where one state ends and another begins. Science speaks of the threshold of hearing, the pain threshold, the threshold dose below which nothing happens; politics of electoral thresholds; life of being on the threshold of adulthood. Below the line, nothing; at the line, hesitation; past it, a different world. The crossing takes a step. Reaching the line can take years.

02In use
  • iCaffeine has little tangible effect below a certain threshold, which varies from person to person.
  • iiThe party failed to reach the ten-percent threshold needed to enter parliament.
  • iiiShe stood on the threshold of the most pivotal decision of her career.
03Collocations
  • on the threshold of
  • reach a threshold
  • the pain threshold
  • below the threshold
  • a threshold effect
04Relations

=limit, boundary, starting point, brink, verge

06TOEFL & IELTS

TOEFL science passages use it constantly — sensory thresholds in psychology, temperature thresholds in ecology, threshold effects in economics. 'On the threshold of' is the figurative collocation IELTS rewards. Pronunciation trap: it is THRESH-hold, with one 'h' sound carrying both syllables.

07Asked
Why is 'threshold' spelled with only one h?
Because it is not a compound of 'thresh' and 'hold' — it only sounds like one. Threshold is a single old word whose second part is not the verb 'hold' at all, so it takes one h, not two. 'Threshhold' is a common misspelling for exactly this reason: the ear hears 'hold' and adds an h that was never there. Break it thresh-old when you spell it, and the double-h version is always wrong.
What does threshold mean?
Two linked senses. Literally it is the strip of floor under a doorway — the sill you cross to enter. Figuratively it is any point where one state ends and another begins: a level that must be reached before something happens. The scene above joins them — a doorway approached in slowing steps, a seam of light widening as the single stride across is finally taken.
What is a pain threshold?
The point at which a sensation first registers as pain — below it you feel pressure or heat, at it the feeling tips into hurting. A high pain threshold means it takes more before something hurts; a low one, less. It is the word's classic scientific use: the exact level that must be crossed for an effect to begin, the same 'below-the-line, then across it' logic the word carries everywhere.
What does 'on the threshold of' mean?
About to enter or begin something — poised at the doorway of a new state: on the threshold of adulthood, of a discovery, of war. It is the figurative sense at its most vivid, borrowing the image of standing in the doorway just before stepping through. The phrase marks a moment of imminence, the pause before a threshold that has taken a long approach to reach is finally crossed.
What is a tax threshold?
The income level at which a tax rule starts to apply — earn below it and the tax or rate does not touch you; cross it and it kicks in. It is the everyday administrative sense of the word: a line that switches something on. The same structure names benefit thresholds and eligibility thresholds — in each, a set level below which nothing happens and above which it does.