Standard Lemma guide

marginal

adj · noun · 14 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈmɑː.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/
  • Canada, General-American: /ˈmɑɹ.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/
  • Australian: /ˈmɐː.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/
  • Queensland Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M AA1 R JH AH0 N AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, usually

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, usually

Examples

  • There were more marginal notes than text.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, usually

Topics: geography, natural-sciences

Examples

  • Monmouthshire is a Welsh county marginal to England.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: comparable, not-comparable, usually

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adj

Meaning 5

Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin.

Barely productive.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: comparable, not-comparable, usually

Examples

  • He farmed his marginal land with difficulty.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adj

Meaning 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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, New-Zealand, UK, comparable, not-comparable, usually

Topics: government, politics

Examples

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

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

adj

Meaning 7

Pertaining to changes resulting from a unit increase in production or consumption of a good.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, usually

Topics: economics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

adj

Meaning 8

Marginalized.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, usually

Topics: human-sciences, sciences, social-science, sociology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

Something or somebody that is marginal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

10

noun

Meaning 10

A constituency won with a small margin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: government, politics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

11

adjective satellite

Meaning 11

at or constituting a border or edge

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the marginal strip of beach

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: fringy

Antonyms: none provided

12

adjective satellite

Meaning 12

of questionable or minimal quality

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • borderline grades
  • marginal writing ability

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: borderline

Antonyms: none provided

13

adjective satellite

Meaning 13

producing at a rate that barely covers production costs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • marginal industries

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

14

adjective satellite

Meaning 14

just barely adequate or within a lower limit

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a bare majority
  • a marginal victory

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bare(a)

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

44 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: լուսանցքային (lusancʻkʻayin) — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Catalan: marginal — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Chinese Mandarin: 边际的 (biānjì de) — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Chinese Mandarin: 边缘的 (biānyuán de) — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Finnish: marginaalinen — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • French: marginal — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • French: périphérique — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Galician: marxinal — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Japanese: 隅の (sumi no) — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Japanese: 辺境の (henkyō no) — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Portuguese: periférico — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Portuguese: marginal — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Spanish: marginal — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Swedish: marginell — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Ukrainian: маргіна́льний (marhinálʹnyj) — of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge
  • Chinese Mandarin: 边界的 (biānjiè de) — geographically adjacent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 边境的 (biānjìng de) — geographically adjacent
  • Finnish: rajoittuva — geographically adjacent
  • French: adjacent — geographically adjacent
  • French: limitrophe — geographically adjacent
  • French: voisin — geographically adjacent
  • Japanese: 辺境の (henkyō no) — geographically adjacent
  • Portuguese: fronteiriço — geographically adjacent
  • Portuguese: adjacente — geographically adjacent
  • Spanish: fronterizo — geographically adjacent
  • Spanish: adyacente — geographically adjacent
  • Armenian: լուսանցքային (lusancʻkʻayin) — written in the margin of a book
  • Bulgarian: написан на полето (napisan na poleto) — written in the margin of a book
  • Finnish: reuna- — written in the margin of a book
  • French: marginal — written in the margin of a book
  • Japanese: 隅の (sumi no) — written in the margin of a book
  • Spanish: marginal — written in the margin of a book
  • Ukrainian: маргіна́льний (marhinálʹnyj) — written in the margin of a book
  • Finnish: välttävä — at the lower extent of a standard
  • French: médiocre — at the lower extent of a standard
  • Japanese: ぎりぎりの (girigiri no) — at the lower extent of a standard
  • Spanish: inferior — at the lower extent of a standard
  • Finnish: huonotuottoinen — of land that is barely productive
  • French: pauvre — of land that is barely productive
  • Spanish: baldío — of land that is barely productive
  • Finnish: vaa’ankieli- — where the winning margin was a small proportion of the total number of votes
  • Finnish: raja- — economics: pertaining to unit changes
  • Bulgarian: маргинал (marginal) — something that is marginal
  • Finnish: marginaali — something that is marginal
Real reading context

marginal in complete knowledge articles

Lonad Places & the world · Advanced · 5 uses Prékopa–Leindler inequality Ideas & learning · Challenging · 2 uses Waveney (constituency) History & culture · Advanced · 2 uses