marginalized

adjective

mar·​gin·​al·​ized ˈmär-jə-nᵊl-ˌīzd 

ˈmärj-nə-ˌlīzd

: having marginal social or political status : relegated to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group

Refugees are the world's quintessentially marginalized population: They are by definition located at the edge, beyond boundaries, on the outside.

—Tamar Mayer

… the domination and oppression of women and other marginalized groups within patriarchal culture.

—Susan M. Squier

Did you know?

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

Recent Examples on the Web

But during the pandemic, Saujani saw firsthand how cultural inequalities forced young girls, particularly from marginalized communities, to abandon their dreams to care for younger siblings. —Jane Hanson, Forbes.com, 11 Apr. 2025

One project that lost funding was researching connections between HIV and substance use among marginalized communities, according to The Daily Northwestern, which first reported on the cuts. —Carrie Shepherd, Axios, 2 Apr. 2025

Advertisement There is the Environmental justice leader Catherine Coleman Flowers, who has a legacy of advocating for marginalized communities, particularly Black and rural families affected by untreated sewage. —Time Staff, Time, 27 Mar. 2025

Many activists use the day to highlight issues such as expunging criminal records for nonviolent cannabis offenses and ensuring equitable access to the cannabis industry for marginalized communities. —Matt Rozo, The Mercury News, 25 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1969, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for marginalized

• americanized
• anathematized
• collateralized
• contextualized
• conventionalized
• demilitarized
• demineralized
• departmentalized
• industrialised
• industrialized
• materialised
• materialized