marginalized
adjective
Tamar MayerSusan M. Squier
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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 marginalized in a Sentence
Scott White, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2025
The students read Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, about America from the perspective of marginalized communities.
—Lorena O'Neil, Rolling Stone, 9 Mar. 2025
That’s how Hollywood seems to like it: with marginalized communities there to add to the pageantry but not actually have our authentic voices celebrated.
—Cristina Escobar, refinery29.com, 3 Mar. 2025
Semicolon carries all kinds of books but focuses on titles by marginalized authors or authors whose books are not as often sold in higher numbers elsewhere, Moore said.
—Shanzeh Ahmad, Chicago Tribune, 1 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for marginalized
Cite this Entry
“Marginalized.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marginalized. Accessed 14 Mar. 2025.
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