marginalmar·gin·al /ˈmɑːdʒənəlˈmɑːr-/ adjectiveadj1a marginal change, increase, fall etc is very small, and not enough to make an important differenceThe country’s unemployment rate declined to 7.5% in June from 7.6% in May, as a result of a marginal increase in employment.
—marginally adverbadvThe US dollar gained marginally on the yen and Canadian dollar.
2marginal products, activities, buildings etc are not considered to be the main part of a business or industry, but may still be importantThere will be the same number of hit movies, but an increased number of marginal films will perform poorly.
3ECONOMICS relating to a change in a cost, value etc when one more thing is produced, one more dollar is earned etcThe marginal return is the added output resulting from employing one more farmer.
4ECONOMICSmaking hardly any profita heavily subsidized marginal industry