marginal

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑː.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɹ.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈmaː.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

Adjective

marginal (not generally comparable, comparative more marginal, superlative most marginal)

1. (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.

   1. 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.

   2. (geography) Sharing a border; geographically adjacent.

      Monmouthshire is a Welsh county marginal to England.

2. (comparable) Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin.
   1. 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.

   2. (of land) Barely productive.

      He farmed his marginal land with difficulty.

   3. (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.

3. (economics, not comparable) Pertaining to changes resulting from a unit increase in production or consumption of a good.

Derived terms

• admarginal
• bimarginal
• callosomarginal
• cingulomarginal
• circummarginal
• comarginal
• dorsomarginal
• ectomarginal
• endomarginal
• epimarginal
• extramarginal
• frontomarginal
• ice-marginal
• inferomarginal
• inframarginal
• interiomarginal
• intermarginal
• intramarginal
• marginal analysis
• marginal benefit
• marginal cost
• marginal credit
• marginal distribution
• marginal farmer
• marginalise
• marginalism
• marginalist
• marginalistic
• marginality
• marginalization
• marginalize
• marginally
• marginalness
• marginal note
• marginal sea
• marginal utility
• multimarginal
• nonmarginal
• perimarginal
• postmarginal
• submarginal
• supermarginal
• supramarginal
• transmarginal
• unmarginal

 

Related terms

• margin
• marginalia

Translations

of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge

• Armenian: լուսանցքային (hy) (lusancʻkʻayin)
• Catalan: marginal (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 边际的 (zh) (biānjì de), 边缘的 (zh) (biānyuán de)

• Finnish: marginaalinen (fi)
• French: marginal (fr), périphérique (fr)
• Galician: marxinal
• Japanese: 隅の (ja) (sumi no), 辺境の (ja) (henkyō no)
• Portuguese: periférico (pt), marginal (pt)
• Spanish: marginal (es)
• Swedish: marginell (sv)
• Ukrainian: маргіна́льний (marhinálʹnyj)

geographically adjacent

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 边界的 (zh) (biānjiè de), 边境的 (zh) (biānjìng de)

• Finnish: rajoittuva
• French: adjacent (fr), limitrophe (fr), voisin (fr)
• Japanese: 辺境の (ja) (henkyō no)
• Portuguese: fronteiriço (pt), adjacente (pt)
• Spanish: fronterizo (es), adyacente (es)

written in the margin of a book

• Armenian: լուսանցքային (hy) (lusancʻkʻayin)
• Bulgarian: написан на полето (napisan na poleto)
• Finnish: reuna- (fi) (such as reunahuomautus)
• French: marginal (fr)
• Japanese: 隅の (ja) (sumi no)
• Spanish: marginal (es)
• Ukrainian: маргіна́льний (marhinálʹnyj)

at the lower extent of a standard

• Finnish: välttävä (fi)
• French: médiocre (fr)
• Japanese: ぎりぎりの (ja) (girigiri no)
• Spanish: inferior (es)

of land that is barely productive

• Finnish: huonotuottoinen
• French: pauvre (fr)
• Spanish: baldío (es)

where the winning margin was a small proportion of the total number of votes

• Finnish: vaa’ankieli- (fi)

economics: pertaining to unit changes

• Finnish: raja- (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} هامش
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} marginaal (nl)

Noun

marginal (plural marginals)

1. 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^[1], 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 ...

2. (politics) A constituency won with a small margin.

Translations

something that is marginal

• Bulgarian: маргинал (bg) m (marginal)
• Finnish: marginaali (fi)

constituency won with a small margin

Anagrams

• alarming

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [mər.ʒiˈnal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [maɾ.d͡ʒiˈnal]

Adjective

marginal m or f (masculine and feminine plural marginals)

1. marginal
   • 2016 December, “Alep: La batalla que va decidir el curs de la guerra a Síria”, in El Periódico‎^[2]:

     Ara, els EUA juguen un paper marginal en el conflicte.

     Now, the US plays a marginal role in the conflict.

Related terms

• marge

Further reading

• “marginal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis, from Latin margō (whence marge).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maʁ.ʒi.nal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: marginale, marginales

Adjective

marginal (feminine marginale, masculine plural marginaux, feminine plural marginales)

1. marginal (written in the margin of a book)
2. (relational) margin, edge, marginal

   coût marginal ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. fringe, fringy (outside the mainstream)
4. secondary (of lesser importance)

Derived terms

• marginalement
• marginaliser

Noun

marginal m (plural marginaux)

1. dropout, misfit (person that chooses to live on the fringes of society)

   Near-synonyms: reclus, asocial

Further reading

• “marginal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

marginal (strong nominative masculine singular marginaler, not comparable)

1. marginal

Declension

Positive forms of marginal (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist marginal	sie ist marginal	es ist marginal	sie sind marginal
strong declension (without article)	nominative	marginaler	marginale	marginales	marginale
	genitive	marginalen	marginaler	marginalen	marginaler
	dative	marginalem	marginaler	marginalem	marginalen
	accusative	marginalen	marginale	marginales	marginale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der marginale	die marginale	das marginale	die marginalen
	genitive	des marginalen	der marginalen	des marginalen	der marginalen
	dative	dem marginalen	der marginalen	dem marginalen	den marginalen
	accusative	den marginalen	die marginale	das marginale	die marginalen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein marginaler	eine marginale	ein marginales	(keine) marginalen
	genitive	eines marginalen	einer marginalen	eines marginalen	(keiner) marginalen
	dative	einem marginalen	einer marginalen	einem marginalen	(keinen) marginalen
	accusative	einen marginalen	eine marginale	ein marginales	(keine) marginalen

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)

1. marginal

References

• “marginal” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin marginalis.

Adjective

marginal (neuter singular marginalt, definite singular and plural marginale)

1. marginal

References

• “marginal” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /maʁ.ʒiˈnaw/ [maɦ.ʒiˈnaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /maʁ.ʒiˈnaw/ [maɦ.ʒiˈnaʊ̯]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /maɾ.ʒiˈnaw/ [maɾ.ʒiˈnaʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /maʁ.ʒiˈnaw/ [maʁ.ʒiˈnaʊ̯]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /maɻ.ʒiˈnaw/ [maɻ.ʒiˈnaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɐɾ.ʒiˈnal/ [mɐɾ.ʒiˈnaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɐɾ.ʒiˈnal/ [mɐɾ.ʒiˈnaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɐɾ.ʒiˈna.li/

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: mar‧gi‧nal

Adjective

marginal m or f (plural marginais)

1. marginal (of, relating to, or located at a margin or an edge)
2. outlaw, criminal (a person who operates outside established norms)

   Synonyms: delinquente, desviante

3. (economics) marginal

Derived terms

• marginalmente

Related terms

• margem

Noun

marginal f (plural marginais)

1. a coastal avenue

Noun

marginal m or f by sense (plural marginais)

1. 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)

1. marginal

Declension

Declension of marginal

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	marginal		marginală	marginali	marginale
	definite	marginalul		marginala	marginalii	marginalele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	marginal		marginale	marginali	marginale
	definite	marginalului		marginalei	marginalilor	marginalelor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maɾxiˈnal/ [maɾ.xiˈnal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: mar‧gi‧nal

Adjective

marginal m or f (masculine and feminine plural marginales)

1. marginal

Derived terms

• callosomarginal
• coste marginal
• mar marginal
• marginalidad
• marginalmente
• nota marginal
• septomarginal

 

Related terms

• margen

 

Further reading

• “marginal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28

Swedish

Noun

marginal c

1. a margin

Declension

Declension of marginal

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	marginal	marginals
	definite	marginalen	marginalens
plural	indefinite	marginaler	marginalers
	definite	marginalerna	marginalernas

Related terms

• marginalisera
• marginell