Meaning of margin in English:

margin

Pronunciation /ˈmɑːdʒɪn/

See synonyms for margin

Translate margin into Spanish

noun

1The edge or border of something.
‘the eastern margin of the Indian Ocean’
- ‘Many are forced to leave their families and lead a precarious existence living on the margins of society.’
- ‘In plan-form the dune has an irregular outline but the eastern margin is more complex and irregular than the western edge.’
- ‘Because Australia has a broad continental shelf it lobbied to have this zone extend to the outer edge of the margin.’
- ‘Representation is confined to a margin between two color fields, which reads as the boundary between earth and sky.’
- ‘As a people living at the margin of society, we were some of the first to be hit by globalisation.’
- ‘The meandering blue outlines of the river Yamuna, painted along the eastern margin of the map, makes the city picturesque.’
- ‘If the trailing edge of the pedal disk lags behind the leading edge, the trailing margin of the pedal disk will be stretched.’
- ‘It is not known at present how extensive this phenomenon is along the western margin of the North Sea, or the eastern margin of the Atlantic.’
- ‘The study area is near the southern margin of the coal field, a structural boundary, not an erosional edge of the palaeoswamp.’
- ‘They are now estranged from society by living on the margins.’
- ‘They are now struggling in the margins of Indian society and live in appalling poverty.’
- ‘They emerge from the cinders to feed and mate when the sun has warmed the rock surfaces, particularly at the margins of snow fields.’
- ‘The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are both parts of the active plate-boundary network, forming the eastern margin of the African plate.’
- ‘However, sediment drifts mantle the western margins, and slope fans locally encroach onto the rise of the eastern margin.’
- ‘This volcanism seemingly developed in an extensional setting near a shelf margin located in the eastern Neptune Range.’
- ‘Taconica, a tectonic highland, formed along the margin of eastern North America.’
- ‘Sediment supply from the eastern margin and from intrabasinal highs was locally important.’
- ‘The Andes form a barrier to the eastern margin of the South Pacific anticyclone.’
- ‘She founded Kids Company in December 1995, hoping to reach not only vulnerable children in schools but also those excluded and on the margins of society.’
- ‘The convergence point marks a plume centre and possible breakup of a continental fragment from the eastern margin of the Superior Province.’
edge, side, bank, verge, border, perimeter, brink, brim, rim, fringe, boundary, limits, periphery, bound, extremity
View synonyms
1. 1.1The blank border on each side of the print on a page.
  ‘the notations in the margin’
  ‘This is fairly easy to accomplish by defining a bounding rectangle for the text that is the same width as the space between the page margins.’
  ‘The holes are far greater than the space in this book given over to noticeably wide margins and blank space.’
  ‘Folding down the corners of pages, scribbling in margins and breaking the spines of paperbacks are signs of a barbarian.’
  ‘A large space was left in the margin of the page for recording place of sleep, position of sleep and behaviour of the infant when awake.’
  ‘The increased readability that results from these design changes is further enhanced by a bigger page size and wider margins.’
  ‘We dealt with that complaint by changing the page margins to get the total length down to where they wanted it without removing any text.’
  ‘From then on the publisher is also mentioned - usually in the form of a seal on the print margin.’
  ‘A further dimension is added to the poem by a Scriptural place given in the page margin.’
  ‘The most readable proposals have text running 4 inches or less across the page with graphics in the side margins or within the text.’
  ‘You might find quite a few prints with the left margin trimmed, thus making an identification by date impossible.’
  ‘All I wanted was a two column template, centered, with wide margins on each side.’
  ‘Any reference to work in the body of the text is usefully indexed with a page number in the margin directing the reader to further pictures.’
  ‘The printer's advantage is that it can print without margins - making the pictures print out exactly like photos.’
  ‘Answer using no more than six letters, a hand gesture, and the doodling space in the margins.’
  ‘Some have holes punched in the margin so they can be kept in three-ring binders.’
  ‘In the documents of the last volume, drawn from the imperial court, you can read the Emperor's notations down the margins.’
  ‘At the end, in the margin, small red notations caught Mallory's eye.’
  ‘The best scholarship applications adhere to specifications for margins, spacing, font size, and length.’
  ‘There are wide margins, only 29 lines to the page, and the print is, at a guess, 12 point.’
  ‘Ever since then, I was always doodling in the margins of my papers or in spare notebooks.’
  leeway, latitude, scope, room, room for manoeuvre, room to spare, space, allowance, extra, surplus
  View synonyms
2. 1.2A line ruled on paper to mark off a margin.
  ‘The children began in right earnest by first drawing a neat margin on the chart paper they were provided with.’
  ‘How many still do, and still print the little black margins around their images to inform the viewer of their exacting practice?’
  ‘You'd have to think about whether it's written in green ink, how steady or efficient or loopy or shaky or spidery is the handwriting, and whether it's written up to the margins and in tiny writing.’
  ‘The children began in earnest by first drawing a neat margin on the chart paper they were provided with.’
  ‘Students first draw a 2-inch margin around the edge of the paper, and then position the projected image on the paper.’
  ‘At once I feel like I'm back at high school and I've been caught drawing margins without a ruler.’
2An amount by which something is won.
‘they won by a convincing 17-point margin’
- ‘Rather, he is ensuring that the principle of one-man-one-vote holds good, even if it comes down to the narrowest of margins.’
- ‘Amazingly the conversion was missed to leave Newbridge still ahead by the narrowest of margins at six points to five.’
- ‘The senior hurlers have had a number of competitive performances, losing by very narrow margins.’
- ‘Conor appeared to have won the bout but lost on the narrowest of margins.’
- ‘Great Britain lost the next two Tests as well, by similarly narrow margins.’
- ‘Mark had a fantastic run of form scoring net 66, 69 and 67 on the last day, to lead the field by a large margin.’
- ‘The number one search and traffic area on that site was staff pages by a large margin.’
- ‘It was a frustrating loss for the Eagles, who let a third quarter time lead evaporate and have now lost their opening two games by margins of less than two goals.’
- ‘The home side were literally outplayed and outclassed by a rampant Crystal side who were by no means flattered by the extent of their winning margin.’
- ‘In the relays Appleby's combinations were too strong for Troutbeck, but they could not overhaul the home side's winning margin.’
- ‘Now one thing that might work in his advantage in California is there's an even more lopsided margin on the Democratic side.’
- ‘That one point margin again separated the sides at the final whistle as two evenly matched teams shared 10 second-half points.’
- ‘It was a workmanlike second half from Carlow, but the margin reflected the gap between the divisions.’
- ‘Bernadette shot a fine birdie at the 19th to get a hole back and the margin was down to one when Ann bogeyed the 3rd and 7th.’
- ‘The margin at the finish line was six seconds, but the leaders had slowed in the last 100m.’
- ‘But the stewards ruled that the interference had not affected the result, arguably not an easy call given the margins at the line of just a neck and half a length.’
- ‘The candidates' agents agreed to a recount of ballot paper bundles because the margin between Mr Grogan and Mr Menzies was less than 500.’
- ‘Variety reports that the California court of appeal voted to uphold the earlier ruling by a margin of 2-1.’
- ‘They finished with a winning margin of fine points.’
- ‘Whether the Airforce are led by a large margin or not, he is there on the touch line offering them encouragement.’
gap, majority, amount, difference, degree of difference, measure of difference
View synonyms
1. 2.1An amount of something included so as to be sure of success or safety.
  ‘there was no margin for error’
  ‘In fact, one of the roots of my concern is that nobody will know for sure when the safety margin has been eroded too far.’
  ‘Protein recommendations for athletes are commonly expressed in a range to include a safety margin.’
  ‘Be sure your available runway length provides an adequate margin for safety.’
  ‘And when borrowing ensure that a hefty margin of safety is built in to the amount that you can repay.’
  ‘The Pesticide Residues Committee says that most of the contamination should not damage health because of the large safety margins.’
  ‘Most of the residues were below the maximum levels set by the government, which had large safety margins, they pointed out.’
  ‘At one point on Wednesday, my margin of safety was down to four miles and I was forced to spend the whole day at the oars to avoid making an impromptu landfall.’
  ‘The risk caused by speeding on one occasion may be small, but the margin of safety is being reduced.’
  ‘Yet the margin for error in this scenario is not infinite.’
  ‘I've read them, I know what they say, I know how they derived the projections, and I know the margin for error.’
  ‘The high number of gear changes and the tiny margin for error inevitably leads to a very high attrition rate among the cars, and it is highly likely that less than half of the starters will finish.’
  ‘Without them the margin for error has been reduced.’
  ‘I think that a country that is that small does not have a big margin for error.’
  ‘With the number of states within the margin for error, that three percent could matter.’
  ‘At the top end of the Premier Division, the margin for error is tiny.’
  ‘The trouble is, of course, this doesn't happen by accident at all, and the margin for error is huge.’
  ‘Because oxygen increases the margin of safety, climbing without it might increase the death rate.’
  ‘So margins of safety naturally get built into task time estimates.’
  ‘But with the throttle screwed on, there is only the barest margin, and no room at all for mistakes.’
  ‘Workers are on a roll now and have been dominant over all sides despite the narrow margins involved at times.’
  leeway, latitude, scope, room, room for manoeuvre, room to spare, space, allowance, extra, surplus
  View synonyms
2. 2.2The furthest limit of possibility, success, etc.
  ‘the lighting is brighter than before but is still at the margins of acceptability’
  ‘Even without the threat of war, an operation of this size presses at the margins of possibility.’
  ‘Yet the fact that he's about to shoot a new feature in colour with Bill Murray and other prominent stars also suggests he's willing to push the limits of those margins.’
  ‘It can explore the margins and limits of the text and of classical theatre, and in the process demystify, even kill the text and the author and his authority.’
  ‘It is also just about possible, but only at the margins of plausibility, that the apostrophe inserted into Finnegans Wake is a deliberate mistake.’
  ‘Desire and jealousy flourish at the margin of what is knowable, just beyond the limits of what Pandosto can see.’
3. 2.3A profit margin.
  ‘launching these new products helped increase margins and market share’
  ‘At the same time, the IRA said, the firms are passing on their increased costs to consumers and increasing their own margins and profits.’
  ‘What's more, many banks sneakily use base-rate changes to increase their margins and profits.’
  ‘There could be some pleasant news with respect to operating profits as revenues continue to grow and margins increase.’
  ‘Borrowers and savers are losing out as banks and building societies boost their margins.’
  ‘If he can get the product right, the M&S boss should be able to edge margins up.’
  ‘Generally thin starting margins suggest little room for manoeuvre on profits when the unexpected happens.’
  ‘Chinese demand is growing at an unprecedented rate, and refineries are near capacity with healthy margins.’
  ‘Caught in the middle of this war is the food processor, facing increasing pressure to deliver quality goods on paper thin margins.’
  ‘It has the highest margins and the best returns in its sector.’
  ‘He said price cuts of this magnitude have already wiped out any possibility of a margin on grazing cattle this summer.’
  ‘It works, and it greatly increases your chance for success, but it limits your margins.’
  ‘It means good margins and possibly a reputation for beer selection that will draw customers from a larger area.’
  ‘The problem is that the amount of handholding an average end-user needs in buying a computer exceeds the margin you could possibly make on selling it.’
  ‘The producer's expectation is to realize at least a maximized lower-level confidence limit of gross margin.’
  ‘So the cost of production & selling must be as low as possible because of the slim margin.’
  ‘The company also said it would diversify its copper product range to boost product margin.’
  ‘We've been working our little cotton socks off to source our chart albums within the EU at the lowest possible price and cutting our margins even more.’
  ‘It also expects its loss to shrink - we'd hope so, given those margins - to $2 million and possibly even to zero.’
  ‘I accept the margins in farming are tight and profits are well down but trying to balance the books at the expense of asylum seekers is not acceptable.’
  ‘Here, distribution may be limited to a small number of intermediaries who gain better margins and exclusivity.’
4. 2.4Finance A sum deposited with a broker to cover the risk of loss on a transaction or account.
  ‘Buying options outright typically does not require any deposit of margin because the maximum risk is what you pay for the option.’
  ‘It can fairly be said that those calls reveal that before the first margin call was made the plaintiff did not understand the risks of a margin account.’
  ‘Finally, in unusual circumstances such as extreme market volatility, SIMEX may require a broker to deposit additional margin.’
  ‘Let's say you have a margin account, and your position takes a dive before rebounding to all-time highs.’
  ‘Most brokers ask for double the margin amount you deposit.’
5. 2.5Australian, New Zealand An increment to a basic wage, paid for extra skill or responsibility.
  ‘Skill margins were a key issue, and the dispute was the first successful post war campaign.’
  ‘Stronger unions responded by demanding higher margins for skill and above-award payments, which strained the court's authority.’

verbverb margins, verb margining, verb margined

[with object]

1Provide with an edge or border.
‘the plant's leaves are margined with yellow’
- ‘The long lasting floral bunches with sparkling waxy bracts in different shades of pink, and the yellow margined red corolla are best suited for cut flowers.’
- ‘Ilex aquifolium ‘Ferox Argentea’: called the hedgehog holly, this is a non-berrying male holly with exceptionally spiky dark green leaves, margined with cream.’
- ‘We watched a yellow margined triggerfish as it scoured the seabed below.’
- ‘From your scoring you will determine the proportion of entire margined leaf species.’
- ‘Forty-four percent of smooth margined lesions were malignant in one study.’
1. 1.1 archaic Annotate or summarize (a text) in the margins.
  ‘these he deals forth as the notable Matters, margined for better Notice’
  comment on, add footnotes to, add notes to, gloss
  View synonyms
2Deposit an amount of money with a broker as security for (an account or transaction)
‘new contracts are margined with the winnings of previously held contracts’
- ‘For instance, if you had $100,000 in your account margined 20 times, your actual investment would be $2m.’
- ‘As I mentioned above, the margining system used by the futures options exchanges provides a special advantage of allowing Treasury bills to be margined.’
- ‘This created a highly margined, over-concentrated portfolio that was not suitable considering Mr. Worker's financial situation or goals.’
- ‘One must be very careful about margined accounts.’
- ‘He is aware of the risks involved in margined trading and that the entire amount of his deposit could be at risk.’
- ‘This was on top of the conventional funding in yen which BFS received through the operation of the margining mechanism I have described above.’
- ‘Since the funds to exercise the options and pay the taxes due were provided by margining the stock in Brokerage House Corp.'s Option Financing Program, Mr. Worker was told that he would have no money out of his pocket.’

Phrases

margin of error

A permissible or tolerable degree of deviation from a correct or exact value or target.
‘it is well within the margin of error for this sort of calculation’
- ‘That's a large target area, and it allows for a margin of error when a shot must be taken from odd angles.’
- ‘A margin of error is allowed in the exercise of discretion.’
- ‘That, basically, is a statistical tie for first, because that's within the margin of error.’
- ‘Okay, but this poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three points.’
- ‘What is the margin of error around those city-level survey estimates?’
- ‘So Bustamante has a three-point lead in a poll with a five-point margin of error.’
- ‘Each guess was outside the margin of error of the other.’
- ‘Even if shareholders are prepared to give Holmes the benefit of another few quarters' grace, he has an extremely small margin of error.’
- ‘That's two or three percentage point difference, which can be well within the margin of error.’
- ‘In a truly scientific survey, the margin of error will be very low.’