Limbo

Quick meaning: Limbo is a noun meaning Jail, prison; (countable) a jail cell or lockup.

Meaning

Jail, prison; (countable) a jail cell or lockup.

More Meanings

1. Synonym of Hades or Hell.
2. Synonym of pawn (“the state of something being held as security for a loan, or as a pledge”).
3. (countable, military, nautical, weaponry) A type of antisubmarine mortar installed on naval vessels.
4. Chiefly preceded by in: any in-between place, or condition or state, of neglect or oblivion which results in deadlock, delay, or some other unresolved status.
5. (transitive, rare) To place (someone or something) in an in-between place, or condition or state, of neglect or oblivion which results in deadlock, delay, or some other unresolved status.
6. (Roman Catholicism, uncountable) A speculative place or state, thought possibly to be on the edge of the bottomless pit of Hell, where the souls of innocent deceased people might exist temporarily until they can enter heaven, specifically those of the saints who died before the advent of Jesus Christ (who occupy the limbo patrum or limbo of the patriarchs or fathers) and those of unbaptized infants (who occupy the limbo infantum or limbo of the infants); (countable) the possible place where each category of souls might exist, regarded separately.
7. (dance, also attributively) A competitive dance originating from Trinidad and Tobago in which dancers take turns to cross under a horizontal bar while bending backwards. The bar is lowered with each round, and the competition is won by the dancer who passes under the bar in the lowest position without dislodging it or falling down.

Example Sentences

My passport application has been stuck in bureaucratic limbo for two weeks.

Oh vvhat a ſimpathie of vvoe is this, / As farre from helpe, as Lymbo is from bliſſe.

VVith all my hart, fare-vvell, far-vvell, / I am freed from Lymbo to be ſent to hell.

It is hard to place thoſe ſoules in Hell vvhoſe vvorthy lives doe teach us vertue on earth; methinks amongſt thoſe many ſubdiviſions of hel, there might have been one Limbo left for theſe: […]

Word Forms

• limbos
• limboes
• limboing
• limboed

Synonyms for limbo

Depending on context, synonyms include pawn, oblivion.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include oblivion, abeyance, expectation, dilemma, hold, suspense.

Related Dictionary Tools