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English
Etymology
Borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
marginal (not generally comparable, comparative more marginal, superlative most marginal)
- (not comparable) Of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge).
The marginal area at the edge of the salt-marsh has its own plants.
In recent years there has been an increase in violence against marginal groups.
- Written in the margin of a book.
There were more marginal notes than text.
1999, R. I. Page, Introduction to English Runes, Boydell Press, page 198:The early pages had marginal notes most of which were lost when rats nibbled away the manuscript edges.
- (geography) Sharing a border; geographically adjacent.
Monmouthshire is a Welsh county marginal to England.
- (comparable) 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.
His writing ability was marginal at best.
Having reviewed the test, there are two students below the required standard and three more who are marginal.
The pilots lacked experience flying in marginal weather conditions.
- (of land) Barely productive.
He farmed his marginal land with difficulty.
- (politics, chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, of a constituency) 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.
In Bristol West, Labour had a majority of only 1,000, so the seat is considered highly marginal this time around.
2002, Andrew Geddes, Jonathan Tonge, Labour′s Second Landslide: The British General Election 2001, page 79:In ‘battleground’ seats with the Conservatives, Liberal Democrat vote shares increased most in the most marginal seats.
2007, Robert Waller, Byron Criddle, The Almanac of British Politics, page 58:In Outer London, Harrow East is now a more marginal Labour hold than Harrow West.
2010, Nick Economou, Zareh Ghazarian, Australian Politics For Dummies, unnumbered page:The pendulum lists the seats from least marginal to most marginal for the government on one side, and least marginal to most marginal for the opposition on the other side.
2021 December 1, “Network News: Integrated Rail Plan: Osborne predicts HS2 eastern leg will return”, in RAIL, number 945, page 8:He justified his comment by noting that the Labour Party had quickly committed to delivering a high-speed Leeds-Manchester line, and argued that pressure would grow on the Government because there were several marginal parliamentary seats around Leeds and Bradford.
- (economics, not comparable) Pertaining to changes resulting from a unit increase in production or consumption of a good.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
written in the margin of a book
at the lower extent of a standard
of land that is barely productive
where the winning margin was a small proportion of the total number of votes
economics: pertaining to unit changes
Translations to be checked
Noun
marginal (plural marginals)
- Something or somebody that is marginal.
1990, Elizabeth B. Lee, Sociology For People: A Caring Profession, page 110:[…] discusses those who belong to the discipline's dominant cults, the mainliners, and their relations with the marginals and mavericks.
2013 August 29, Clifford D. Simak, Project Pope, Hachette UK, →ISBN, →OCLC:“We need a saint or some other symbol that will serve to anchor our faith into the foreseeable future. I have watched and waited for a saint but none showed up—not even a marginal saint. Mary is the first one, and we must not allow her ...
- (politics) A constituency won with a small margin.
Translations
something that is marginal
constituency won with a small margin
Anagrams
Catalan
Pronunciation
Adjective
marginal m or f (masculine and feminine plural marginals)
- marginal
2016 December, “Alep: La batalla que va decidir el curs de la guerra a Síria”, in El Periódico:Ara, els EUA juguen un paper marginal en el conflicte.- Now, the US plays a marginal role in the conflict.
Related terms
Further reading
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin marginālis.
Pronunciation
Adjective
marginal (feminine marginale, masculine plural marginaux, feminine plural marginales)
- written in the margin of a book; marginal
- (relational) margin, edge; marginal
- outside the mainstream; fringe, fringy
- of lesser importance; secondary
Derived terms
Noun
marginal m (plural marginaux)
- a person that chooses to live on the fringes of society; dropout, misfit
Further reading
German
Pronunciation
Adjective
marginal (strong nominative masculine singular marginaler, not comparable)
- marginal
Declension
Positive forms of marginal (uncomparable)
Further reading
- “marginal” in Duden online
- “marginal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From Latin marginalis.
Adjective
marginal (neuter singular marginalt, definite singular and plural marginale)
- marginal
References
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From Latin marginalis.
Adjective
marginal (neuter singular marginalt, definite singular and plural marginale)
- marginal
References
Portuguese
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -al, -aw
- Hyphenation: mar‧gi‧nal
Adjective
marginal m or f (plural marginais)
- marginal (of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge)
- outlaw, criminal (a person who operates outside established norms)
- Synonyms: delinquente, desviante
- (economics) marginal
Derived terms
Related terms
Noun
marginal f (plural marginais)
- a coastal avenue
Noun
marginal m or f by sense (plural marginais)
- outlaw, criminal (a person who operates outside established norms)
- Synonym: delinquente
Aquele menino é um marginal!- That boy is a criminal!
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from French marginal. By surface analysis, margine + -al.
Adjective
marginal m or n (feminine singular marginală, masculine plural marginali, feminine and neuter plural marginale)
- marginal
Declension
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maɾxiˈnal/
- Rhymes: -al
- Syllabification: mar‧gi‧nal
Adjective
marginal m or f (masculine and feminine plural marginales)
- marginal
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
Swedish
Noun
marginal c
- a margin
Declension
Related terms