submarginal
Americanadjective
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Biology. near the margin.
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below the margin.
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not worth cultivating, as land; less than satisfactory; unproductive.
adjective
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below the minimum requirements
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situated close to the margin of an organ or part
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(of land) infertile and unprofitable for cultivation
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of submarginal
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.
Millions of acres of sandy or submarginal land were planted to wheat, corn and cotton.
From Time Magazine Archive
Conservationists expect the stamps to yield between $600,000 and $1,000,000 yearly for use in buying submarginal farm lands, turning them into duck refuges.
From Time Magazine Archive
Charging in from opposite directions, Ohio's Taft wanted to cut out the $12.5 million "outhouse fund" for submarginal farms, and North Dakota's maverick Republican William Langer wanted to double it.
From Time Magazine Archive
When World War I threatened its manganese supply, the U. S. increased purchases of ore from Cuba and Brazil, began working its own submarginal deposits.
From Time Magazine Archive
They and the coyotes lived clever, despairing, submarginal lives.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Definitions 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.
