| English > English | |
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| marginal | |
| 1. adj. (uncomparable) 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. | |
| 2. adj. Written in the margin of a book. | |
| There were more marginal notes than text. | |
| 3. adj. (geography) Sharing a border; geographically adjacent. | |
| Monmouthshire is a Welsh county marginal to England. | |
| 4. adj. (comparable) Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin. | |
| 5. adj. 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. | |
| 6. adj. (of land) Barely productive. | |
| He farmed his marginal land with difficulty. | |
| 7. adj. (politics, chiefly UK, Australia, NZ, of a constituency) Subject to a change in sitting member with only a small change in voting behaviour, this usual | |
| In Bristol West, Labour had a majority of only 1,000, so the seat is considered highly marginal this time around. | |
| 8. adj. (economics, uncomparable) Pertaining to changes resulting from a unit increase in production or consumption of a good. | |
| 9. n. Something that is marginal. | |
| 10. n. A constituency won with a small margin. | |
