marginal cost

American  

noun

Economics.

1. the cost of one additional unit of any item produced or bought in quantity.

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marginal cost Cultural  

1. The change in total cost of production when an output is varied by one unit.

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Etymology

Origin of marginal cost

First recorded in 1925–30

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

marginal cost

The analysts define their price as a multiple of marginal cost — the cost of the least efficient miner — of the last two cycles, from 2016 to 2019 and 2020 to 2023.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

And in this case, the marginal cost of each ticket is small – there are not even any very substantial overheads to cover, which often justify a higher price.

From Salon ● Jun. 14, 2026

But you can ask your kid to pay you the marginal cost of their presence in the plan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026

Beijing is effectively trying to lower the marginal cost of child rearing while nudging households toward more confident spending across a cluster of family-oriented categories.

From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026

When we consider it as a producer, we say that its production of anything will not be carried beyond the point at which the marginal cost exceeds the price it will obtain.

From Supply and Demand by Hubert D. Henderson

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