marginal

adj.

1. Of, relating to, located at, or constituting a margin, a border, or an edge: the marginal strip of beach; a marginal issue that had no bearing on the election results.
2. Being adjacent geographically: states marginal to Canada.
3. Written or printed in the margin of a book: marginal notes.
4. Barely within a lower standard or limit of quality: marginal writing ability; eked out a marginal existence.
5. Economics.
   1. Having to do with enterprises that produce goods or are capable of producing goods at a rate that barely covers production costs.
   2. Relating to commodities thus manufactured and sold.
6. Psychology. Relating to or located at the fringe of consciousness.

n.
One that is considered to be at a lower or outer limit, as of social acceptability: "is fascinated by marginals, by people who live on the edge of society" (Dan Yakir).

marginality mar'gin·al'i·ty (-jə-năl'ĭ-tē) n.
marginally mar'gin·al·ly adv.

adj

Definition: borderline; slight
Antonyms: central, core, gross, interior, internal, vast

---

[common]

1. [techspeak] An extremely small change. “A marginal increase in core can decrease GC time drastically.” In everyday terms, this means that it is a lot easier to clean off your desk if you have a spare place to put some of the junk while you sort through it.

2. Of little merit. “This proposed new feature seems rather marginal to me.”

3. Of extremely small probability of winning. “The power supply was rather marginal anyway; no wonder it fried.”

---

Applied to a role that is considered unimportant in a team or group. Those occupying marginal roles may be disadvantaged. An injured team player, for example, may become marginalized if the team continues to be successful in his or her absence, and the player may be in danger of losing a place in the team.

Pertaining to margin.

• m. auricular dermatosis — see ear margin dermatosis.
• m. folds — folds of endothelium found in lymphatics which provide a valve-like effect, permitting ingress only of fluid.
• neural tube m. layer — on the external surface of the embryonal neural tube; houses axonal processes of developing neurons.
• m. zone — the rim of tissue surrounding lymph follicles in the spleen which contains many lymphocytes and macrophages.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - marginal, i margen, rand-, perifer
n. - person, der lever i yderkanterne (f.eks. socialt)

idioms:

• marginal cost    marginal omkostning, grænseomkostninger

Nederlands (Dutch)
marginaal, aangrenzend, in de kantlijn, grens-, bestaande uit twee culturen, nauwelijks het minimum overschrijdend, niet de kosten dekkend

Français (French)
adj. - marginal, (GB, Pol) disputé, (Agric) à faible rendement, dans la marge, en marge (une note d'auteur)
n. - (GB, Pol) siège disputé

idioms:

• marginal cost    coût marginal

Deutsch (German)
adj. - marginal, Rand..., Grenz...
n. - (BrE) Parlamentssitz, der bei den Wahlen nicht sicher ist

idioms:

• marginal cost    Grenzkosten

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - οριακός, περιθωριακός

idioms:

• marginal cost    (οικον.) οριακό κόστος

Italiano (Italian)
marginale

idioms:

• marginal cost    costo marginale
• marginal life    vita marginale

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - marginal

idioms:

• marginal cost    custo de uma cópia extra

Русский (Russian)
находящийся на краю чего-то, написанный на полях, крайний, допустимый, маргинальный

idioms:

• marginal cost    предельно высокая себестоимость, предельные издержки

Español (Spanish)
adj. - marginal, periférico
n. - apostilla, nota marginal

idioms:

• marginal cost    costo límite o marginal

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - marginal-, gräns-, marginell

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
页边的, 栏外的, 边境的, 边缘的, 临界的, 边缘席位或选区

idioms:

• marginal cost    边际成本

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 頁邊的, 欄外的, 邊境的, 邊緣的, 臨界的
n. - 邊緣席位或選區

idioms:

• marginal cost    邊際成本

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 테두리의, 한계의, 생각하지 않은 부분의, 최저의, 생산성이 없는
n. - 테두리, 한계, 차익

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 欄外の, 縁の, へりの, 辺境の, 限界の, あまり重要でない, 周辺の

idioms:

• marginal cost    限界原価

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) هامشي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮של שוליים, שולי, זעום, קרוב לשוליים, ליד חופי מדינה (ים)‬
n. - ‮מחוז-בחירה שנציגו נבחר ברוב זעום (בריטניה), חבר בפרלמנט שנבחר ברוב קטן (בריטניה)‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.