marginalize
verb
Did you know?
Marginalized Writing vs. Marginalized People
Marginalize provides a striking case of how thoroughly the figurative use of a word can take over the literal one. The original (and now obsolete) meaning of this word, “to write notes in the margin of,” is analogous to the still-familiar noun marginalia, “marginal notes or embellishments." A margin is, of course, the blank space surrounding the text in a book. Just prior to 1970, marginalize took on the sense that is most commonly encountered today, “to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position” (that is, to the metaphorical margins of society). This use of the verb can be found as far back as 1968; an article in The Los Angeles Times from June 20th of that year reports, “[T]he Negro was kept aside, marginalized, thus composing in its large majority the chronically poor.” In its newer sense, marginalize has assumed a much more prominent place in the vocabulary than it once had.
Examples of marginalize in a Sentence
The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 20 Dec. 2024
They and other small, hard-to-reach states would be further marginalized in a pure popular-vote system.
—The Editors, National Review, 20 Dec. 2024
There will always be a threshold to cross and unfortunately, systems that (often unintentionally) marginalize people.
—Mary Crossan, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024
His hard-line faction is also politically marginalized at the moment, as both the president and the conservative speaker of Parliament have made clear that Iran’s priorities need to be economic development and making a deal with the West.
—Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 17 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for marginalize 
Dictionary Entries Near marginalize
Cite this Entry
“Marginalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marginalize. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
marginalize
verb
Share