MARGINAL

fringy, marginal

(adjective) at or constituting a border or edge; “the marginal strip of beach”

borderline, marginal

(adjective) of questionable or minimal quality; “borderline grades”; “marginal writing ability”

marginal

(adjective) producing at a rate that barely covers production costs; “marginal industries”

marginal, bare(a)

(adjective) just barely adequate or within a lower limit; “a bare majority”; “a marginal victory”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Adjective

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

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

(geography) Sharing a border; geographically adjacent.

(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.

(of land) Barely productive.

(politics, chiefly, UK, Australia, NZ, 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.

(economics, uncomparable) Pertaining to changes resulting from a unit increase in production or consumption of a good.

Noun

marginal (plural marginals)

Something that is marginal.

(politics) A constituency won with a small margin.

Anagrams

• alarming

Source: Wiktionary

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Mar"gin*al, a. Etym: [Cf. F. marginal.]

1. Of or pertaining to a margin.

2. Written or printed in the margin; as, a marginal note or gloss.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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