marginal

Etymology

Borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis.

adj

1. (not comparable) Of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge).
   1. Written in the margin of a book.
      There were more marginal notes than text.
      The early pages had marginal notes most of which were lost when rats nibbled away the manuscript edges. 1999, R. I. Page, Introduction to English Runes, Boydell Press, page 198
   2. (geography) Sharing a border; geographically adjacent.
      Monmouthshire is a Welsh county marginal to England.
2. (comparable) Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin.
   1. 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.
      The pilots lacked experience flying in marginal weather conditions.
   2. (of land) Barely productive.
      He farmed his marginal land with difficulty.
   3. (politics, chiefly UK, Australia, New Zealand, 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.
      In Bristol West, Labour had a majority of only 1,000, so the seat is considered highly marginal this time around.
      In ‘battleground’ seats with the Conservatives, Liberal Democrat vote shares increased most in the most marginal seats. 2002, Andrew Geddes, Jonathan Tonge, Labour′s Second Landslide: The British General Election 2001, page 79
      In Outer London, Harrow East is now a more marginal Labour hold than Harrow West. 2007, Robert Waller, Byron Criddle, The Almanac of British Politics, page 58
      The pendulum lists the seats from least marginal to most marginal for the government on one side, and least marginal to most marginal for the opposition on the other side. 2010, Nick Economou, Zareh Ghazarian, Australian Politics For Dummies, unnumbered page
      He justified his comment by noting that the Labour Party had quickly committed to delivering a high-speed Leeds-Manchester line, and argued that pressure would grow on the Government because there were several marginal parliamentary seats around Leeds and Bradford. December 1 2021, “Network News: Integrated Rail Plan: Osborne predicts HS2 eastern leg will return”, in RAIL, number 945, page 8
3. (economics, not comparable) Pertaining to changes resulting from a unit increase in production or consumption of a good.

noun

1. Something or somebody that is marginal.
   […] discusses those who belong to the discipline's dominant cults, the mainliners, and their relations with the marginals and mavericks. 1990, Elizabeth B. Lee, Sociology For People: A Caring Profession, page 110
   “We need a saint or some other symbol that will serve to anchor our faith into the foreseeable future. I have watched and waited for a saint but none showed up—not even a marginal saint. Mary is the first one, and we must not allow her ... 2013-08-29, Clifford D. Simak, Project Pope, Hachette UK, →OCLC
2. (politics) A constituency won with a small margin.