marginalize
verb
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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 marginalize in a Sentence
Suzanne Blake, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 June 2025
Though Indigenous practices, cultural values, and art have long been marginalized and forcibly distanced from the Western mainstream, the emergence of an Indigenous Fashion Week asserts its’ presence, and keeps the culture very much alive.
—Tiana Randall, Forbes.com, 5 June 2025
Buckley went his own way on the war on drugs and war in Iraq, among other questions, and marginalized the antisemites (something Tanenhaus barely mentions) and, of course, denounced Robert Welch and the Birchers at considerable commercial risk to this magazine.
—The Editors, National Review, 2 June 2025
Many feel marginalized in their everyday lives and see the Dropout community as a place where they are accepted.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 2 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for marginalize
Cite this Entry
“Marginalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marginalize. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
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marginalize
verb
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