Word family noun margin marginalization adjective marginal marginalized verb marginalize adverb marginally
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmarginalmar‧gin‧al /ˈmɑːdʒɪnəl $ ˈmɑːr-/ ●○○ AWL adjective 1 UNIMPORTANTa marginal change or difference is too small to be important OPP significant a marginal increase in the unemployment figures a marginal improvement in profits2 technical relating to a change in cost, value etc when one more thing is produced, one more dollar is earned etc marginal revenue3 → marginal seat/constituency4 marginal people or groups are not considered powerful or important OPP mainstream The album contains too many songs by marginal bands.5 EDGE[only before noun] written in a margin marginal notesExamples from the Corpus
marginal• Some crimes were acts of protest, but within the overall context of illegal activity they were marginal.• The difference between the two cars is marginal.• Businesses can already buy from suppliers in different countries, and exchange costs are marginal.• Instead it allows for the discovery of both marginal gainers and losers.• Large cities in America had become the home of the poor and socially marginal groups.• a marginal increase in sales• There has been only a marginal increase in sales.• The result is a marginal increase in the risk of infection.• Above $ 75,000, the marginal rate would jump, again, to 34 percent.• But when films are taxed we have just seen that the marginal social benefit of another film exceeds its marginal cost.• Thus, beyond a certain point the marginal social benefit of further risk reduction will exceed the marginal social cost.• In Sussex they are much more important for their breeding birds than reservoirs as they generally have much more marginal vegetation.From Longman Business Dictionarymarginalmar‧gin‧al /ˈmɑːdʒənəlˈmɑːr-/ adjective1a marginal change, increase, fall etc is very small, and not enough to make an important differenceThe country’s unemployment rate declined to 7.5% in June from 7.6% in May, as a result of a marginal increase in employment. —marginally adverbThe US dollar gained marginally on the yen and Canadian dollar.2marginal products, activities, buildings etc are not considered to be the main part of a business or industry, but may still be importantThere will be the same number of hit movies, but an increased number of marginal films will perform poorly.3ECONOMICS relating to a change in a cost, value etc when one more thing is produced, one more dollar is earned etcThe marginal return is the added output resulting from employing one more farmer.4ECONOMICSmaking hardly any profita heavily subsidized marginal industry 