Showing results for "marginalized"

• past participle of marginalize.
• past tense form of marginalize.

marginalized

American  

[mahr-juh-nl-ahyzd] / ˈmɑr dʒə nlˌaɪzd /

especially British, marginalised

adjective

1. placed in a position of little or no importance, influence, or power.

   Technology has the power to amplify the voices of marginalized communities and strengthen our democracy.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of marginalize.

Etymology

Origin of marginalized

marginalize ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

marginalized

This is a question that Black and brown Americans, and members of other marginalized groups, have been asking themselves for centuries.

From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026

“SPLC remains committed to exposing extremism, equipping the public with knowledge and defending the rights and safety of marginalized communities,” a spokesman for the organization said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

Fox also had his own spreadsheet, built around a Control-F search for terms like tribal, immigrants, diversity, inclusion, Indigenous, Native, equity, equality, marginalized, BIPOC, solidarity, citizenship, melting pot, social justice, and gay.

From Slate ● May 14, 2026

It’s also not like superhero comic books haven’t had storylines about marginalized communities or interrogating people in power.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 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