the amount of collateral a customer deposits with a broker when borrowing from the broker to buy securities
"Before he could borrow money from the broker to purchase more stocks, the client had to increase his margin deposit."
(finance) the net sales minus the cost of goods and services sold
"After deducting the cost of the raw materials, our company's profit margin on these new widgets is surprisingly low."
The edge of the paper, typically left blank when printing but sometimes used for annotations etc.
"She quickly scribbled her notes in the margin before folding up her exam paper to hand it in."
In plain English: A margin is the empty space left around the edge of something, like the white border on a piece of paper.
"The newspaper had a white margin around the edges of the page."
Usage: Use margin to refer to the empty space surrounding the text on a page or screen. Do not confuse it with the difference between two numbers, which is called a margin in finance or statistics but implies a gap rather than a physical edge.
To add a margin to.
"The designer decided to add a generous white margin around the text before printing the brochure."
In plain English: To margin something means to push it so close to the edge that there is almost no space left for it.
"He marginally improved his scores after practicing every day."
Usage: As a verb, to margin means to add a blank space or border around the edge of a page or document. This action is typically performed manually in handwriting or digitally in word processing software to improve readability.
The word comes from the Latin margō, which originally meant "edge" or "brink." It entered English through Middle English as margyn.