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marginal

/ˈmɑɹ.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/adjective, noun

marginal is spelled M-A-R-G-I-N-A-L: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, marginal means “Of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in marginal?

Letters8: M-A-R-G-I-N-A-L
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing5.1 times per million words; the 11,015th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is marginal?

Marginal appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce marginal?

  • UK /ˈmɑː.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/
  • US /ˈmɑɹ.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/
  • Australia /ˈmɐː.d͡ʒɪ.nəl/

Marginal has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-marginal.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with marginal?

No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as marginal (/ɑɹdʒɪnəl/).

Spelled with the same letters in another order: alarming.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of marginal

  • more marginal comparative
  • most marginal superlative
  • marginals plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does marginal mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    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.

  2. 2

    Written in the margin of a book.

    There were more marginal notes than text.

  3. 3

    Sharing a border; geographically adjacent.

    Monmouthshire is a Welsh county marginal to England.

  4. 4

    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.

  5. 5

    Barely productive.

    He farmed his marginal land with difficulty.

  6. 6

    AustraliaUKSubject 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.

  7. 7

    Pertaining to changes resulting from a unit increase in production or consumption of a good.

  8. 8

    Marginalized.

noun

  1. 1

    Something or somebody that is marginal.

  2. 2

    A constituency won with a small margin.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Marginal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmarginal, périphérique (of, relating to, or located at a margin or an…), adjacent, limitrophe, voisin (geographically adjacent)
Portugueseperiférico, marginal (of, relating to, or located at a margin or an…), fronteiriço, adjacente (geographically adjacent)
Spanishmarginal (of, relating to, or located at a margin or an…), fronterizo, adyacente (geographically adjacent), inferior (at the lower extent of a standard), baldío (of land that is barely productive)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does marginal come from?

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin marginālis, equivalent to margin + -al.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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