{
  "id": "raising-the-bar.threshold",
  "term": "raising the bar",
  "sense": "threshold",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 12,
  "arena": "competition",
  "domain": "social systems",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "The wall that moves when a model of what can be done shifts, closing the window of what was possible before.",
  "folk_gloss": "setting a higher standard than before",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "wall.range-end",
      "model.representation",
      "window.range",
      "parameter.condition",
      "drift.aimless"
    ],
    "interaction": "raise",
    "novel_properties": [
      "dynamic boundary",
      "collective expectation shift"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "In 2012, Usain Bolt's 9.58-second 100m record raised the bar for all sprinters, redefining elite performance thresholds.",
      "domain": "sports"
    },
    {
      "text": "After SpaceX landed and reused the Falcon 9 booster in 2015, the cost and reusability bar reset across orbital launch systems.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "When AlphaGo defeated Lee Sedol in 2016, it raised the bar for what was thought possible in AI game-playing strategy.",
      "domain": "computing"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "raising the bar"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "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-raising-the-bar.threshold"
}