Showing results for "marginalized"

• past tense form of marginalize.
• past participle 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

“When safe cycling infrastructure goes in, then you see a lot more women, a lot more marginalized communities, also children, elderly people, people with disabilities,” Roach said.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2026

Women had little real power in Nashville at the time, and though rural women were a growing part of the country music audience, they were marginalized as artists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026

Those marginalized communities, like most voters around the country, don’t have the same tastes as the gentrifying parts of Harlem and upper Manhattan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

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

We told Dr. Xuma that the ANC was in danger of becoming marginalized unless it stirred itself and took up new methods.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela