# marginal

Pronunciation: say "MAR-ji-nuhl" US /ˈmɑɹ.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/, UK /ˈmɑː.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/, AUS /ˈmɐː.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/

## Adjective

1. Close to the lowest acceptable level, so that the thing barely qualifies or risks being excluded from a group or category.
   - Simple: Only just good enough to be accepted, and close to failing or being left out.
   - _Her application was marginal, scraping past the cutoff by a single point._
   - _The water samples showed marginal levels of contamination, right at the limit regulators allow._
2. Located at or near an edge or border; also used figuratively for things at the edge of importance or attention.
   - Simple: Placed at or near the edge of a thing, rather than in the middle.
   - _The marginal vegetation fringing the lake differs sharply from the plants found further inland._
   - _His ideas stayed marginal to the main debate, mentioned only in passing._
3. Relating to the change in cost, benefit, or output that results from producing or consuming one additional unit of a good.
   - Simple: About the extra cost or gain from making or using just one more of something.
   - _Firms set output where marginal revenue equals marginal cost._
   - _The marginal utility of each additional slice of pizza tends to fall as you eat more._
4. Pushed to the edges of a society or group, with little power, status, or inclusion in mainstream life.
   - Simple: Kept at the edge of society and treated as less important than others.
   - _Activists fought for the rights of marginal groups long excluded from public life._
   - _Policies that ignore marginal populations often deepen existing inequality._
5. Producing barely enough to be worthwhile; only just profitable or useful.
   - Simple: Only just able to produce enough to be worth the effort.
   - _The company closed its marginal mines, which barely covered their running costs._
   - _Farmers struggle to make a living on marginal land at the edge of the desert._
6. Lying next to another region or territory and sharing a border with it.
   - Simple: Sharing a border with another place, and lying right next to it.
   - _The survey covered the marginal districts where the two provinces meet._
   - _The province is marginal to two larger neighbors, a position that has shaped its trade for centuries._
7. Inscribed or printed in the blank space along the edge of a book's page.
   - Simple: Written in the empty space at the edge of a page.
   - _The scholar studied the marginal annotations scribbled beside the printed text._
   - _Faded marginal jottings revealed how the monk had read the manuscript._
8. Likely to switch from one party to another with only a small shift in votes, usually because the previous election was won by a narrow margin. *(Australia, New Zealand, UK)*
   - Simple: Likely to change which party wins, because it was won last time by only a few votes.
   - _Both leaders campaigned hard in the marginal constituencies that would decide the election._
   - _A swing of just two percent could flip several marginal seats._

## Noun

9. An electoral district that was won by a small margin and could easily change hands at the next election.
   - Simple: A voting area that was won last time by only a small number of votes.
   - _Campaign managers poured money into the closest marginals across the country._
   - _Losing that marginal cost the governing party its majority._
10. A person or thing considered to be at the edge of a group, of little importance or barely included.
   - Simple: A person or thing that sits at the edge and is not seen as important.
   - _The book tells the stories of marginals living on society's edges._
   - _She refused to be treated as a marginal in her own field._

## Origin

A learned borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis, formed from margin and the suffix -al.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/marginal (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).