Limbo is the stuck in-between state where nothing moves forward. In limbo, left in limbo, a state of limbo.
In limbo is the fixed phrase and describes waiting for a decision nobody will make. In medieval theology, Limbo was the place at the edge of hell for souls excluded from heaven through no fault of their own, and the Catholic Church quietly set the idea aside in 2007. There is a separate limbo, the Caribbean dance of passing under a lowering bar, which is unrelated and much more fun.
1nounlimboA stuck in-between state where nothing moves forward.
“Our holiday plans are in limbo until my boss approves the time off.”
limbo is a state of suspension.
Latin limbus means an edge or border — the same root as the limbo of the theologians, a place on the edge. The dance is from a Trinidadian word meaning to bend and is a coincidence.
Proto-Indo-European
*leb-
Proto-Indo-European
*lemb- — to hang limply or loosely
Latin
limbō
Middle English
limbo
English, today
limbo
Built from
The noun is derived from Middle English limbo, lymbo (“place where innocent souls exist temporarily until they can enter heaven”), from Latin limbō, the ablative singular of limbus (“border, edge; hem; fringe, tassel”) (notably in expressions like in limbō (“in limbo”) and e limbō (“out of limbo”)); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European lemb- (“to hang limply or loosely”), from Proto-Indo-European leb- (“to hang down loosely (?)”). a doublet of limp. The verb is derived from the noun.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
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