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margin definition

mar·gin (mär′jən)

noun

  1. a border, edge, or brink the margin of the pond
  2. the blank space around the printed or written area on a page or sheet
  3. a limit to what is desirable or possible
    1. an amount of money, supplies, etc. reserved or allowed beyond what is needed; extra amount for contingencies or emergencies
    2. provision for increase, addition, or advance
  5. the amount by which something is higher or lower to win by a wide margin
  6. Business, Finance
    1. the difference between the cost and the selling price of goods produced, sold, etc.
    2. money or collateral deposited with a broker or other lender, either to meet legal requirements or to insure against loss on contracts, as to buy stocks or commodities which have been financed with funds provided by the lender
    3. a customer's equity if his or her account is closed at the prevailing prices
    4. the difference between the face value of a loan and the market value of the collateral put up to secure it
  7. Econ. the minimum return, below which activities are not profitable enough to be continued
  8. Psychol. the fringe of consciousness

Etymology: ME margine < L margo (gen. marginis): see mark

transitive verb

  1. to provide with a margin or border; be a margin to; border
  2. to enter, place, or summarize in the margin of a page or sheet
  3. Business, Finance
    1. ☆ to deposit a margin upon
    2. to hold by depositing or adding to a margin upon
    3. to purchase (securities) on margin

Etymology: L marginare

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

business margin definition - business

finance margin definition - finance

law margin definition - legal

medical margin definition - medical

margin Synonyms

margin

n.

border, edge, perimeter; see boundary, edge 1, rim. See syn. study at rim.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

margin Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • squeeze: Firms are seeing profit margins squeezed and they are responding by seeking ways to reduce their cost base.

Adjective modifier

  • gross: Gross margin is the value of sales less the cost of goods sold.

Modifies a noun

  • squeeze: On the key issue of the alleged margin squeeze against rivals we found BSkyB to be around the borderline of anti-competitive behavior.

Noun used with modifier

  • profit: Their profit margins are likely to come under intense pressure leading to the possible closure of smaller chemists in rural areas.

Preposition: of

  • appreciation: States are allowed 'a margin of appreciation ' in imposing restrictions on trade union rights.

Preposition: for

  • error: So if we get Chinese demand wrong and Iraqi supply wrong, we find we have no margin for error left.
margin usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

margin quotes

To divide a cube into two other cubes, a fourth power or in general any power whatever into two powers of the same denominationabovethesecond isimpossible, and Ihave assuredly found anadmirable proof of this, but the margin is too narrow to contain it.

-Fermat, Pierre de

I think you will like them, when you shall see them on a beautiful quarto page, where a neat rivulet of text shall meander through a meadow of margin.

-Sheridan, Richard Brinsley

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea: I am become a name; For always roaming with a hungry heart Much have I seen and known; cities of men And manners, climates, council, governments, Myself not least, but honoured of them all; And drunk delight of battle with my peers, Far on the ringing plains of windyTroy. I am part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades For ever and for ever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnished, not to shine in use! As though to breathe were life.

-Tennyson

margin quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
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margin. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

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