margins

Noun

margin (plural margins)

1. The edge of the paper, typically left blank when printing but sometimes used for annotations etc.
2. The edge or border of any flat surface.
   • Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins like a veteran army that had marched down to drink, only to be stricken motionless at the water’s edge.1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad
3. (figuratively) The edge defining inclusion in or exclusion from a set or group.
   • As far as space is concerned, Mary Lamb finds herself at the farthest margin of society - among tramps - when the novel begins.1999, Pierre François, Inlets of the Soul: Contemporary Fiction in English and the Myth of the Fall, page 186
4. A difference or ratio between results, characteristics, scores.
   • margin of victory
5. A permissible difference; allowing some freedom to move within limits.
   • margin of error
6. The yield or profit; the selling price minus the cost of production.

See all 12 meanings of margin