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Marginal vs Ancillary - What's the difference?

marginal | ancillary |

As adjectives the difference between marginal and ancillary

is that marginal is (uncomparable) of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge) while ancillary is subordinate; secondary; auxiliary; accessory.

As nouns the difference between marginal and ancillary

is that marginal is something that is while ancillary is something that serves an ancillary function, such as an easel for a painter.

marginal

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • (uncomparable) Of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge) .
  • The marginal area at the edge of the salt-marsh has its own plants.
    In recent years there has been an increase in violence against marginal groups.
  • # Written in the margin of a book.
  • There were more marginal notes than text.
  • #* 1999 , R. I. Page, Introduction to English Runes , Boydell Press, page 198:
  • The early pages had marginal notes most of which were lost when rats nibbled away the manuscript edges.
  • # (geography) Sharing a border; geographically adjacent.
  • Monmouthshire is a Welsh county marginal to England.
  • (comparable) Determined by a small margin; having a salient characteristic determined by a small margin.
  • # Of a value, or having a characteristic that is of a value, that is close to being unacceptable or leading to exclusion from a group or category.
  • His writing ability was marginal at best.
  • ''Having reviewed the test, there are two students below the required standard and three more who are marginal .
  • # (of land) Barely productive.
  • He farmed his marginal land with difficulty.
  • # (politics, chiefly, UK, Australia, NZ, of a constituency) Subject to a change in sitting member with only a small change in voting behaviour, this usually being inferred from the small winning margin of the previous election.
  • In Bristol West, Labour had a majority of only 1,000, so the seat is considered highly marginal this time around.
  • #* 2002 , Andrew Geddes, Jonathan Tonge, Labour?s Second Landslide: The British General Election 2001 , page 79,
  • In ‘battleground’ seats with the Conservatives, Liberal Democrat vote shares increased most in the most marginal seats.
  • #* 2007 , Robert Waller, Byron Criddle, The Almanac of British Politics , page 58,
  • In Outer London, Harrow East is now a more marginal Labour hold than Harrow West.
  • #* 2010 , Nick Economou, Zareh Ghazarian, Australian Politics For Dummies , unnumbered page,
  • The pendulum lists the seats from least marginal' to most '''marginal''' for the government on one side, and least '''marginal''' to most ' marginal for the opposition on the other side.
  • (economics, uncomparable) Pertaining to changes resulting from a unit increase in production or consumption of a good.
  • Derived terms

    * comarginal * marginal cost * marginal utility * postmarginal * submarginal

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something that is .
  • A constituency won with a small margin.
  • Anagrams

    * ----

    ancillary

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary; accessory.
  • * 1836 , :
  • how easily he took all things along with him,—the persons, the opinions, and the day, and nature became ancillary to a man.
  • * 1898 ,
  • [E]very organ of the body, whatever function it may perform, must also perform the other four functions in an ancillary manner.

    Noun

    (ancillaries)
  • Something that serves an ancillary function, such as an easel for a painter.
  • (archaic) An auxiliary; a subordinate.
  • References

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    Anagrams

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