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Marginal

//ˈmɑː.d͡ʒɪ.nəl// adj, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge). not-comparable, usually

    "The marginal area at the edge of the salt-marsh has its own plants."

  2. 2
    Of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge).; Written in the margin of a book. not-comparable, usually

    "There were more marginal notes than text."

  3. 3
    Of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge).; Sharing a border; geographically adjacent. not-comparable, usually

    "Monmouthshire is a Welsh county marginal to England."

  4. 4
    Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin.; Of a value, or having a characteristic that is of a value, that is close to being unacceptable or leading to exclusion from a group or category. comparable, not-comparable, usually

    "His writing ability was marginal at best."

  5. 5
    Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin.; Barely productive. comparable, not-comparable, usually

    "He farmed his marginal land with difficulty."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin.; Subject to a change in sitting member with only a small change in voting behaviour, this usually being inferred from the small winning margin of the previous election. Australia, New-Zealand, UK, comparable, not-comparable, usually

    "In Bristol West, Labour had a majority of only 1,000, so the seat is considered highly marginal this time around."

  2. 7
    Pertaining to changes resulting from a unit increase in production or consumption of a good. not-comparable, usually
  3. 8
    Marginalized. not-comparable, usually

    "The caseworker couldn't understand how I could have stretched out my last bit of money for so long. She seemed convinced that I was "hiding" income from her and interrogated me for I don't know how long. […] The system seems based on the assumption that people are "welfare cheats." If you don't speak English or are marginal in some other way, it's worse."

Adjective
  1. 1
    at or constituting a border or edge wordnet
  2. 2
    of questionable or minimal quality wordnet
  3. 3
    producing at a rate that barely covers production costs wordnet
  4. 4
    just barely adequate or within a lower limit wordnet
Noun
  1. 1
    Something or somebody that is marginal.

    "[…] discusses those who belong to the discipline's dominant cults, the mainliners, and their relations with the marginals and mavericks."

  2. 2
    A constituency won with a small margin.

Etymology

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis, equivalent to margin + -al.

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis, equivalent to margin + -al.

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