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marginalmore about marginal

marginal

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Marginal  \Mar"gin*al\,  a.  [Cf.  F.  marginal.] 
  1.  Of  or  pertaining  to  a  margin. 
 
  2.  Written  or  printed  in  the  margin;  as  a  marginal  note  or 
  gloss. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  marginal 
  adj  1:  at  or  constituting  a  border  or  edge;  "the  marginal  strip  of 
  beach"  [syn:  {edge(a)},  {fringe(a)},  {fringy}] 
  2:  of  questionable  or  minimal  quality;  "borderline  grades"; 
  "marginal  writing  ability"  [syn:  {borderline}] 
  3:  of  a  bare  living  gained  by  great  labor;  "the  sharecropper's 
  hardscrabble  life";  "a  marginal  existence"  [syn:  {hardscrabble}] 
  4:  just  barely  adequate  or  within  a  lower  limit;  "a  bare 
  majority";  "a  marginal  victory"  [syn:  {bare(a)}] 
  5:  producing  at  a  rate  that  barely  covers  production  costs; 
  "marginal  industries";  "marginal  land" 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  marginal  adj  [common]  1.  [techspeak]  An  extremely  small 
  change.  "A  marginal  increase  in  {core}  can  decrease  {GC}  time 
  drastically."  In  everyday  terms,  this  means  that  it  is  a  lot  easier  to 
  clean  off  your  desk  if  you  have  a  spare  place  to  put  some  of  the  junk 
  while  you  sort  through  it  2.  Of  little  merit.  "This  proposed  new 
  feature  seems  rather  marginal  to  me."  3.  Of  extremely  small  probability 
  of  {win}ning.  "The  power  supply  was  rather  marginal  anyway;  no  wonder 
  it  fried." 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  marginal 
 
    1.  Extremely  small  "A  marginal  increase  in  {core} 
  can  decrease  {GC}  time  drastically."  In  everyday  terms,  this 
  means  that  it  is  a  lot  easier  to  clean  off  your  desk  if  you 
  have  a  spare  place  to  put  some  of  the  junk  while  you  sort 
  through  it 
 
  2.  Of  extremely  small  merit.  "This  proposed  new  feature  seems 
  rather  marginal  to  me." 
 
  3.  Of  extremely  small  probability  of  {win}ning.  "The  power 
  supply  was  rather  marginal  anyway;  no  wonder  it  fried." 
 
  [{Jargon  File}] 
 
  (1994-10-21)




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