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 word 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
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 17 May 2024
Offering options like self-screening can build trust between providers and patients from marginalized communities, Martin said.
—Nicole Fallert, USA TODAY, 15 May 2024
The Music In Action grant provides funding for venues to program events that build community and promote accessibility for marginalized groups, create opportunities for both local talent and touring acts to grow and find new audiences, and increase their revenue and customer base.
—Taylor Mims, Billboard, 15 May 2024
Doulas also can significantly improve the outcomes for underserved and marginalized groups.
—Pam Skop, Parents, 15 May 2024
But Medina, a former ethnic studies teacher, continued to try, emphasizing the importance of students understanding the struggles and contributions of marginalized groups.
—Mathew Miranda, Sacramento Bee, 13 May 2024
Still, when visibility for some doesn’t translate into meaningful change for a marginalized community as a whole, how is that reconciled?
—Anna Furman, Fortune, 11 May 2024
In theory, regularly preventing even a few $10,000-hospital-stays a year for these costly repeat customers could both improve the health of marginalized people and save big dollars.
—Leslie Walker, NPR, 3 May 2024
The activists accused the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee of hurting marginalized communities and falsely labeling any critic of Israel as an antisemite.
—Amy Qin, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'marginalized.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near marginalized
Cite this Entry
“Marginalized.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marginalized. Accessed 23 May. 2024.
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