supermarginaladj.n.
/ˌsuːpəˈmɑːdʒɪnl/, /ˌsuːpəˈmɑːdʒn̩l/, /ˌsjuːpəˈmɑːdʒɪnl/, /ˌsjuːpəˈmɑːdʒn̩l/, U.S. /ˌsupərˈmɑrdʒənəl/ A. adj.
1. Zoology and Anatomy. = supramarginal adj.
ΚΠ
1852 J. D. Dana U.S. Exploring Exped.: Crustacea Pt. I 544 [The hairs] become super-marginal.
1904 W. K. Fisher in Bull. U.S. Fish Comm. 1903 iii. 1106 The rays are not so high, and the abactinal and supermarginal spines are reduced to tubercles on the plates.
1967 W. Wechsler & K. Meller in C. G. Bernhard & J. P. Schadé Developmental Neurol. 119 The sequence of fibrillary differentiation in astrocytes in the area of the marginal and supermarginal glia has been studied.
2004 R. Melillo & G. Leisman Neurobehavioral Disorders Childhood (2009) 191 (caption) In the majority of patients, the lesion involves the supermarginal gyrus in the inferior parietal lobe at the temporo-parietal junction.
2.
a. Better or more than marginal in quality or degree; (Economics) involving or achieving a greater than marginal level of profit or value. Cf. marginal adj. 4a, 4b.
ΚΠ
1906 Econ. Jrnl. Dec. 524 To such profits must be added in most instances a rent of super-marginal capacity which is determined as all other rents.
1922 Admin. Jan. 140/1 Some of these men who are not good farmers might be supermarginal men in other occupations.
1958 B. Ischboldin Econ. Synthesis xi. 209 ‘F’ is a supermarginal seller because he achieves an ‘economic surplus’.
1997 Jrnl. Law, Econ., & Organization 13 301 Firms whose project quality is high enough to justify effort-ensuring salaries in excess of the manager's reservation compensation requirement will be termed supermarginal firms.
2002 W. J. Baumol Free-market Innovation Machine iii. 42 The Ricardian rent model, with rewards to the different supermarginal innovations corresponding to differences in the market values of their degree of superiority over the marginal innovation.
b. Economics. Of land or ore: of greater profitability than marginal land or ore. Of a farmer, etc.: working such land. Cf. marginal adj. 4c.
ΚΠ
1912 S. J. Chapman Polit. Econ. viii. 205 Super-marginal land earns its marginal worth plus an extra sum..which measures the differential advantages enjoyed by it.
1922 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 36 651 He may, as a supermarginal farmer, be able to make his capital earn something well above average commercial returns.
1943 W. H. Lyon Risk, Profit, & Loss iii. 88 Discovery of new super-marginal ore bodies may take place more disconcertingly.
1978 Amer. Jrnl. Agric. Econ. 60 43/2 Higher return to super-marginal than marginal land, the unearned income known as rent, has always been disruptive.
1996 S. E. Gray Yankee West i. 37 Soil maps rate as supermarginal less than 1 percent of the township.
2007 S. T. Phillips This Land, this Nation i. 56 Surpluses also emanated from good land and from farms and farmers considered ‘supermarginal’ in the terminology of land economics.
3. Politics. Designating a constituency, etc., in which an election is expected to be extremely closely contested, the sitting or outgoing member typically having only a very small majority. Cf. marginal adj. 6.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > right to vote at elections > [adjective] > type of constituency
snug1844
three-cornered1882
multi-member1911
marginal1948
supermarginal1955
1955 Manch. Guardian 6 May 3/6 Harrow East has become what one Conservative expert calls a ‘super-marginal’ constituency.
1979 C. O'Leary in J. J. Lee Ireland 1945–70 157 Virtually the only interesting political events during these years were the results in the super-marginal Westminster constituency of West Belfast.
1995 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 2 Oct. 1 Kim Beazley moves from super-marginal Perth seat of Swan to safe-ALP Brand.
2010 G. Radice Trio iv. 56 When the super-marginal Essex seat of Basildon was comfortably held by the Tories, Kinnock knew he had lost.
B. n.
1. Zoology. A supermarginal part; esp. one of the plates lying above the marginal plates of a starfish arm. rare.
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1919 Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. Univ. Iowa 7 45 Supermarginals are small, often indistinct, and like the dorsals.
1978 J. Sprinkle & R. A. Robison in R. C. Moore Treat. Invertebr. Paleontol. (new ed.) T. III. 1000/1 The anterior margin of the theca bears a grill-like array of 18 to 20 ctenoid plates articulated either with the suroral, with two wedge-shaped plates called laterals lying beside it, or with the edges of the two other anterior supermarginals.
2. Politics. A supermarginal constituency or seat.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > right to vote at elections > [noun] > constituency > type of
borough1512
close borough1771
pocket borough1783
borough-constituency1868
index constituency1888
Euro-constituency1957
supermarginal1960
marginal1966
1960 D. E. Butler & R. Rose Brit. Gen. Election 1959 App. ii. 233 In super-marginals with majorities under 1% it [sc. the median increase in turnout] rose by only 1.0%.
1974 Economist 19 Oct. 35/1 About one in twenty former Liberal voters in a marginal, and one in ten in a supermarginal, thought stopping Labour mattered more than voting Liberal.
1994 F. Conley Gen. Elections Today (ed. 2) iv. 51 Super-marginals showed an average turnout of over 81%.
2010 Sunday Express (Nexis) 10 Jan. 13 Seats in the capital worth a watch include Finchley and Golders Green, once held by Margaret Thatcher and now a super-marginal.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1852