Meaning & use
marginalize
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To push a person or group to the edges of society or a decision so that their voice and needs are treated as unimportant.
Grammar: Takes an object: policies that marginalize workers; often passive: marginalized communities.
Patterns
- marginalize someone
- be marginalized by something
Cuts to funding can marginalize small rural schools.
The policy risks marginalizing people who do not speak the language.
Many immigrants felt marginalized by the new law.
verbtransitive
To reduce something to a minor role so that it matters little in a larger system.
Grammar: Takes a non-human object too: marginalize a topic or product.
Patterns
- marginalize something
- be marginalized in something
Online shopping has marginalized many small bookstores.
The committee marginalized the issue by placing it last on the agenda.
Paper maps have been marginalized by phone navigation.
Word forms
| third person singular | marginalizes |
|---|---|
| past tense | marginalized |
| past participle | marginalized |
| -ing form | marginalizing |
Common combinations
- marginalized communities
- The grant supports marginalized communities in the city.
- feel marginalized
- New staff may feel marginalized if they are never invited to meetings.
- marginalize minorities
- The old system marginalized minorities in public life.
- increasingly marginalized
- Local farmers have become increasingly marginalized in the market.
- risk marginalizing
- The plan risks marginalizing older residents.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sideline
- Sideline is more informal and usually means keeping someone out of the main action, such as sidelining a player.
- exclude
- Exclude means to keep someone out entirely, whereas marginalize leaves them present but powerless.
- ostracize
- Ostracize means to shut someone out socially by deliberate rejection, which is more personal than marginalize.
- disempower
- Disempower focuses on taking away power or control, while marginalize stresses being pushed to the edge.
Opposites
Word family
- marginal adjective
- small in importance or amount, or at the edge of something
- marginalization noun
- the process of being pushed to the edge of society
- margin noun
- an edge, or the space beside printed text
- marginalized adjective
- treated as unimportant and pushed aside
Commonly confused: marginalize or marginal?
marginalize vs marginal
Marginal is an adjective meaning small or minor, as in a marginal improvement. Marginalize is a verb about treating people as unimportant.
Practice
Which sentence uses marginalize correctly?
Choose one answer.
Marginalize means to push people or groups to the edge of society, so rising rents affecting families fits. The other options use it for objects or actions it cannot describe.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “marginalize”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.