marginalia
Americanplural noun
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of marginalia
1825–35; < New Latin, noun use of neuter plural of Medieval Latin marginālis marginal
Explanation
Marginalia are the notes you scribble along the sides of the text in a book. When you buy a novel at a used book store, you may discover the previous owner's marginalia among its pages. The notes a student takes while reading often end up in the margins of the book. This marginalia might help the reader think critically and carefully about the text, or even act as a study aid later when there's a test on the material. Marginalia gets its name from the fact that it's written in the margin, which in turn comes from the Latin marginem, "edge or border."
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.
Those marginalia are little workmanships, like the earlier ones of crayon and wool.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
There’s documented marginalia and scribblings that suggest a serious reader, and anecdotes about her reciting poems at parties, reading Proust on set, and expounding on Whitman, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026
And because no year is complete without a bunch of Stephen Sondheim marginalia, I’ve added a few bonus tracks, including a snippet of a surprise, in his honor.
From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2024
At first it appears messy, improvised and oblique — the sculptural equivalent of marginalia.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2023
The vines were beautiful, deep green against the glowing sun-kissed stone, like the illuminated marginalia in a manuscript.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
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.
