subliminal
adjective
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Since the Latin word limen means "threshold", something subliminal exists just below the threshold of conscious awareness. The classic example of a subliminal message is "Eat popcorn" flashed on a movie screen so quickly that the audience doesn't even notice it consciously. Actually, no such advertising has ever been shown to work. But ordinary ads, both in print and on TV, do contain all kinds of images that shape our response to the product being advertised even when we don't realize it. Try looking carefully at some ads that you like, in order to discover how many ways they may be subliminally affecting you.
Examples of subliminal in a Sentence
Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 21 Oct. 2024
The surprising impact of subliminal messages on rational, intentional, conscious behavior lends subliminal protocols to practical applications, of which advertising is just one example.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 20 Oct. 2024
All of the subliminal symbolism is now laid as bare as Teresa’s abdomen in a Sizzle Tans commercial.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 29 July 2024
My mother-in-law says things like, ‘What happened to your face?’
Miss Manners: Is putting her feet on my dashboard a subliminal message?
—R. Eric Thomas, The Mercury News, 1 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for subliminal 
Dictionary Entries Near subliminal
Cite this Entry
“Subliminal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subliminal. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.
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subliminal
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subliminal
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