MARGINAL

marginal

Noun

  1. Something that is marginal.
  2. A constituency won with a small margin.

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge).
    The marginal area at the edge of the salt-marsh has its own plants.
    In recent years there has been an increase in violence against marginal groups.
  1. Written in the margin of a book.
    There were more marginal notes than text.
    1. Sharing a border; geographically adjacent.
    Monmouthshire is a Welsh county marginal to England.
  1. Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin.
    1. Of a value, or having a characteristic that is of a value, that is close to being unacceptable or leading to exclusion from a group or category.
      His writing ability was marginal at best.
      ''Having reviewed the test, there are two students below the required standard and three more who are marginal.
    2. Barely productive.
      He farmed his marginal land with difficulty.
    3. Subject to a change in sitting member with only a small change in voting behaviour, this usually being inferred from the small winning margin of the previous election.
      In Bristol West, Labour had a majority of only 1,000, so the seat is considered highly marginal this time around.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: marginal
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

Need help with a clue?
Try your search in the crossword dictionary!