MARGIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does margin mean? 

• MARGIN (noun)
  The noun MARGIN has 6 senses:

1. the boundary line or the area immediately inside the boundary

2. an amount beyond the minimum necessary

3. the amount of collateral a customer deposits with a broker when borrowing from the broker to buy securities

4. (finance) the net sales minus the cost of goods and services sold

5. the blank space that surrounds the text on a page

6. a permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits

  Familiarity information: MARGIN used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MARGIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The boundary line or the area immediately inside the boundary

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

border; margin; perimeter

Hypernyms ("margin" is a kind of...):

bound; boundary; edge (a line determining the limits of an area)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "margin"):

lip (either the outer margin or the inner margin of the aperture of a gastropod's shell)

Derivation:

marginal (at or constituting a border or edge)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An amount beyond the minimum necessary

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

the margin of victory

Hypernyms ("margin" is a kind of...):

amount (the relative magnitude of something with reference to a criterion)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "margin"):

margin of error; margin of safety; safety margin (the margin required in order to insure safety)

narrow margin; narrowness; slimness (a small margin)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The amount of collateral a customer deposits with a broker when borrowing from the broker to buy securities

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

margin; security deposit

Hypernyms ("margin" is a kind of...):

deposit; down payment (a partial payment made at the time of purchase; the balance to be paid later)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(finance) the net sales minus the cost of goods and services sold

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

gross profit; gross profit margin; margin

Hypernyms ("margin" is a kind of...):

earnings; lucre; net; net income; net profit; profit; profits (the excess of revenues over outlays in a given period of time (including depreciation and other non-cash expenses))

Domain category:

corporate finance (the financial activities of corporation)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The blank space that surrounds the text on a page

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Context example:

he jotted a note in the margin

Hypernyms ("margin" is a kind of...):

blank space; place; space (a blank area)

Holonyms ("margin" is a part of...):

page (one side of one leaf (of a book or magazine or newspaper or letter etc.) or the written or pictorial matter it contains)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

allowance; leeway; margin; tolerance

Hypernyms ("margin" is a kind of...):

disagreement; discrepancy; divergence; variance (a difference between conflicting facts or claims or opinions)

 Context examples 

The medial margin of the thorax created by the seventh to tenth rib.

(Costal Arch, NCI Thesaurus)

Treatment of choice is resection with clean margins.

(Clear Cell Odontogenic Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

After this year is over, you may say that you realize you used to view life from the margins in small proportions and applications.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

This narrow margin of grass between the path and the flower-bed.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Superficial lesions are always cured by simple excision; a wider margin of tissue should be obtained for deep, benign types.

(Benign Fibrous Histiocytoma, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

By combining the different types of data, they were able to map the bed topography along Greenland's margins with unprecedented precision and detail.

(Hidden Greenland canyons mean more sea level rise, NASA)

They've trained their eyes to search for ancient lake margins, where megafauna are reliably found.

("Out of Tibet" hypothesis: Cradle of evolution for cold-adapted mammals is in Tibet, NSF)

The border, edge, or margin of an organ or a part.

(Anatomic Rim, NCI Thesaurus)

Benign unilocular lytic areas in the proximal end of a long bone with well defined and narrow endosteal margins.

(Bone Cyst, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The gingival margins of the tooth surfaces.

(Class V Surface, NCI Thesaurus)