Home › Health Sciences › Healthcare Access & Inequality › marginalized

marginalized

MAR-jin-uh-lyzd /ˈmɑːrdʒɪnəlaɪzd/

adjectiveC1GRESATIELTS

sociologicalacademicpolitical

Treated as insignificant or peripheral; pushed to the edge of a group or society.

Implies an active process of exclusion by a dominant group or system.

The story behind the word. From the Latin 'margo', meaning edge or border. Just as you write notes in the 'margins' of a page because they aren't the main text, marginalized people are kept outside the 'main text' of society.

Word relationships

excluded: Excluded means left out entirely; marginalized means kept at the edge where you have little power.

mainstream: Mainstream groups are at the center of social and political life.

Commonly confused with

minority: A minority is a numerical count; a marginalized group is defined by their lack of power, regardless of their size.

Word family

marginalize (verb): to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position.
marginalization (noun): the process of being marginalized.

Collocations

marginalized communities
marginalized voices
economically marginalized
socially marginalized

Idioms & expressions

on the margins of society

Example sentences

"Marginalized groups often face systemic barriers that prevent them from accessing high-quality healthcare." Sociology lecture
"We must amplify the voices of the marginalized to ensure true democracy." Human rights speech

Memory hook

Think of the 'margin' of a notebook. It's the space where you aren't supposed to write the important stuff. Pushed to the margins, away from the center.

When not to use

Do not use for things that are naturally at the edge (like the margin of a book) unless speaking metaphorically about people.

Fun facts

The term 'marginalize' only started being used in a sociological sense in the 1960s.