marginally

[mahr-juh-nl-ee]

adverb

1. by a minimal, insignificant, or almost insufficient amount.

   This student routinely submits work of substandard or marginally acceptable quality.

   Pork exports in May were marginally higher compared with the previous year.

2. at a barely adequate level.

   The shelter offers shower and laundry facilities for homeless and marginally housed adults.

3. in the margin of a page.

   It is obvious that Jack London read these books, as they are marked, underlined, and marginally annotated.

4. on the border of something.

   On the wings of butterflies, marginally located contrastive markings create false edges, helping to decrease detection by predators.

Other Word Forms

• supermarginally adverb
• transmarginally adverb
• unmarginally adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of marginally¹

marginal ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

Maresca is picking marginally older players this season, with an average starting XI age of 24 years and 169 days, but they remain the fourth-youngest team in Europe's big five leagues.

Read more on BBC

Continued rice price deflation should keep food inflation contained, while a modest rise in electricity tariffs is expected to lift utilities inflation marginally, they said.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Jakarta fell, while Tokyo was marginally lower and Sydney, Singapore, Taipei and Wellington all edged into the green.

Read more on Barron's

“If anything, you could kind of look at everything we got this morning and say it’s marginally on the more dovish side.”

Read more on Barron's

Oil prices were down only marginally, despite the potential that any peace deal could lead to more barrels of Russian crude hitting the market.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• kind of 
• lightly 
• somewhat