marginally

American  

[mahr-juh-nl-ee] / ˈmɑr dʒə nl i /

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.

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Other Word Forms

• supermarginally adverb
• transmarginally adverb
• unmarginally adverb

Etymology

Origin of marginally

marginal ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

This is a bleak comedy of a stalled-out creative life, about a middle-aged man whose lifelong literary ambition, only marginally fulfilled, has left him looking like a failure, even a fool.

From The Wall Street Journal

The German software giant’s 2026 revenue outlook points to a limited growth acceleration and is marginally below consensus expectations, Citi says in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal

The dollar remained under broad pressure against major currencies and bitcoin pulled back only marginally from falls overnight.

From The Wall Street Journal

The company expects to be marginally profitable, at least for now.

From MarketWatch

The result of the survey, which gauged sentiment of around 2,000 consumers, marginally beat a consensus of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal, which had expected a smaller uptick to minus 16.5.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• kind of
• lightly
• somewhat