- past participle of marginalize.
- past tense form of marginalize.
marginalized
Americanadjective
verb
Etymology
Origin of marginalized
Explanation
Anyone who's marginalized has been pushed to the edges of society and made to feel insignificant. Marginalized people often include members of racial, cultural, and religious minorities. Marginalized comes from margin, which means "the edge of a page." When groups are marginalized, they're figuratively kept in society's margins, away from the center where power and privilege lies. Marginalized people are labeled as outsiders for reasons such as their skin color, poverty, education level, gender identification, age, or disabilities. At the fringes of society, marginalized people often live without full access to their civil rights.
Vocabulary lists containing marginalized
RBG's Brave & Brilliant Women
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Boy 2.0
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Nigeria Jones
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The most marginalized and poorest may have no option but to stay behind.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026
Faux explained that, theoretically, yes, there are many ways that Bitcoin could serve the marginalized and oppressed: It could be used in international remittances; it could protect wealth against irresponsible governments.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
Talarico, believing God is on the side of the oppressed and the marginalized, focuses his message to voters on equity and protecting personal freedom.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
“If that bothers you, don’t hesitate to mute or block me. I don’t have the capacity or patience to debate with internet strangers as to why they should be considerate of marginalized communities.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
I even explained the origins of the term “geek,” how so many of them, once destined to be marginalized outcasts, were using technology to alter their fates, change their destinies, build a new culture.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.