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

At current world oil prices hovering around $60 per barrel or less, large investments in the Venezuelan oil fields would be marginally profitable at best.

From Los Angeles Times

Since law-school enrollment generally grew over these two years, the share of seats held by blacks and Hispanics did fall marginally.

From The Wall Street Journal

It showed employment continued to increase in December, with job creation accelerating, though only marginally due to further cutbacks in the manufacturing sector.

From The Wall Street Journal

In effect a player could now be marginally offside on the technology, but onside when the tolerance level was applied.

From BBC

After a roller coaster year, the domestic box office is expected to finish only marginally better than last year and remains down more than 20% from pre-pandemic levels.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• kind of
• lightly
• somewhat