MEANING
1. Relating to the additional effect of a small change, especially one extra unit.
2. Small in amount, degree, or importance.
3. Situated outside the main center of activity, influence, or attention.
Use it for
additional costs and benefits; small differences; peripheral positionsClarify whether marginal means additional, slight, or socially peripheral.
Words that belong together
- marginal cost
- marginal increase
- marginal role
On the page
The marginal cost of serving one more passenger was low on the nearly empty bus.
The revision produced only a marginal improvement in accuracy.
Small producers played a marginal role in setting the export rules.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- marginal
Usage notes
Primary category: academic. Economic marginal analysis concerns incremental changes, not merely unimportant ones. Marginal cost can be substantial; marginal communities may face serious exclusion. Economic incremental sense normally non-gradable. Peripheral or slight sense can be graded: more marginal; most marginal. Derived family (not inflections): marginally, marginality.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
Keep a thought for later. Sign in to save privately.