mar ‧ gin ‧ al AC /ˈmɑːdʒən ə l, ˈmɑːdʒɪn ə l $ ˈmɑːr-/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ margin , ↑ marginalization ; adjective : ↑ marginal , ↑ marginalized ; verb : ↑ marginalize ; adverb : ↑ marginally ]
1 . a marginal change or difference is too small to be important OPP significant :
a marginal increase in the unemployment figures
a marginal improvement in profits
2 . technical relating to a change in cost, value etc when one more thing is produced, one more dollar is earned etc:
marginal revenue
3 . marginal seat/constituency British English a ↑ seat in a parliament or similar institution, which can be won or lost by a small number of votes
4 . marginal people or groups are not considered powerful or important OPP mainstream :
The album contains too many songs by marginal bands.
5 . [only before noun] written in a margin:
marginal notes