How to Use marginal in a Sentence

marginal

adjective
  • There has been only a marginal improvement in her condition.
  • His reading and writing abilities are marginal.
  • The rest of north Alabama, and a slice of the state from the northeast to the southwest part of the state, will have a marginal risk.
    Leigh Morgan, al, 21 Feb. 2022
  • The rest of the state still has a Level 1 out of 5 (or marginal) risk for severe weather.
    Leigh Morgan, al, 25 May 2022
  • In that, Biden’s hands are trying to use the marginal knowledge of Harris to work for them.
    Philip Elliott, TIME, 25 July 2024
  • Some of the blame for the marginal cooling ability of the A/C must go to the Samurai's convertible top.
    Csaba Csere, Car and Driver, 5 Jan. 2023
  • The marginal risk area has been pushed a bit southward in the latest update.
    Leigh Morgan, al, 1 June 2022
  • If the queen holds, there is a marginal improvement on this line.
    Deb Harvell, arkansasonline.com, 27 Oct. 2024
  • Even small, marginal gains can have a big impact at scale.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
  • It should be noted that the broader S&P500 returned a marginal growth over the last month.
    Trefis Team, Forbes, 9 June 2022
  • But that’s still going to be marginal in terms of what happened.
    Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 1 July 2024
  • The story of the 2024 election map in Wisconsin is a story of small shifts and marginal trend lines.
    Craig Gilbert, Journal Sentinel, 25 Nov. 2024
  • There are things that, at first blush, might appear marginal but are in truth major.
    David Marchese, New York Times, 28 Aug. 2022
  • Tavares called it a small or marginal piece of the automaker's business.
    Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press, 4 Mar. 2022
  • But races are long enough that this is a mostly marginal factor.
    Victor Mather, New York Times, 6 June 2024
  • Front-wheel drive Outlanders see a marginal improvement of 24 city and 31 mpg on the highway.
    Eric Stafford, Car and Driver, 21 Jan. 2023
  • Most of the sales growth came from a rise in selling prices, which outweighed a marginal drop in sales volume across markets.
    Trefis Team, Forbes, 5 Jan. 2022
  • Add the high tax rates in states such as California or New York to the federal rate, and the top marginal rate is more than 50%.
    The Editorial Board, WSJ, 3 Mar. 2022
  • Studies there have showed a marginal increase in math and reading skills for some school grades.
    Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2021
  • Most analysts still suggest the election could be anything from a marginal win for the GOP to a blowout.
    Michael Smolenscolumnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 June 2022
  • Crew chief Ed Malloy said after the game that the contact between the players was marginal and no foul should have been called.
    Brian Mahoney, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2024
  • However, the rate of decline last year was marginal compared with the size of the influx of new state arts dollars.
    Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2024
  • The Cubs might need to take back an inflated contract, or accept marginal prospects in a deal.
    Matt Robison, Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2024
  • But for the Heat, such marginal additions are not even a talking point at the moment, with the team hard up against the luxury tax.
    Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 16 Sep. 2022
  • The tornado threat is minimal in the marginal risk area.
    Leada Gore | Lgore@al.com, al, 1 Mar. 2023
  • The brief ceasefire brought only marginal calm to some parts of the capital, Khartoum.
    Bradford Betz, Fox News, 21 Apr. 2023
  • These are not gag gifts … this is not marginal stoner humor.
    Daniel Wolfe, Washington Post, 20 Apr. 2023
  • But in Alabama the raise has only been marginal, by 3%.
    Stryens-Fernandes, al, 10 May 2023
  • McCarthy will play in at least a marginal change-of-pace role Saturday.
    Nathan Baird, cleveland, 25 Nov. 2021
  • The people who see changes in the traffic most quickly and clearly are often the most vulnerable and marginal.
    Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 26 Nov. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'marginal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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