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Marginal vs Trifle - What's the difference?

marginal | trifle |

As nouns the difference between marginal and trifle

is that marginal is something that is while trifle is an english dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.

As an adjective marginal

is (uncomparable) of, relating to, or located at or near a margin or edge; also figurative usages of location and margin (edge) .

As a verb trifle is

to deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth.

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

    * ----

    trifle

    English

    Noun

  • An English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.
  • An insignificant amount.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1928, author=Lawrence R. Bourne
  • , title=Well Tackled! , chapter=17 citation , passage=Commander Birch was a trifle uneasy when he found there was more than a popple on the sea; it was, in fact, distinctly choppy. Strictly speaking, he ought to have been following up the picket–boat, but he was satisfied that the circumstances were sufficiently urgent for him to take risks.}}
  • Anything that is of little importance or worth.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmation strong / As proofs of holy writ.
  • * Drayton
  • with such poor trifles playing
  • A particular kind of pewter.
  • (uncountable) Utensils made from this particular kind of pewter.
  • Synonyms

    See also: . * (insignificant amount) iota, jot, scrap, whit * (thing of little importance or worth) bagatelle, minor detail, whiffle

    Derived terms

    * a trifle

    See also

    * ("trifle" on Wikipedia)

    Verb

    (trifl)
  • To deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth.
  • To act, speak, or otherwise behave with jest.
  • To inconsequentially toy with something.
  • To squander or waste.
  • Anagrams

    * * ----