{
  "id": "pushing-the-envelope.frontier",
  "term": "pushing the envelope",
  "sense": "frontier",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 18,
  "arena": "EmergenceLexicon",
  "domain": "category: the moving wall",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "work that presses against the wall of the current state of the art, showing where the next window will open when the wall moves",
  "folk_gloss": "trying to go beyond the usual limits",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "work.effort",
      "wall.range-end",
      "state-of-the-art.frontier",
      "window.range",
      "motion.movement"
    ],
    "interaction": "pushing",
    "novel_properties": [
      "emergence.components",
      "interaction"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The James Webb Space Telescope's first deep-field image revealed galaxies fainter and farther than any Hubble could detect.",
      "domain": "astronomy"
    },
    {
      "text": "AlphaFold 2 predicted protein structures with accuracy rivaling experimental methods, surpassing all previous computational models.",
      "domain": "computing"
    },
    {
      "text": "The 2020 Tesla Battery Day unveiled 4680 cells aiming to extend electric vehicle range beyond 500 miles on a single charge.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "pushing the envelope"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — the moving wall"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-pushing-the-envelope.frontier"
}