marginal improvements

USAGE SUMMARY

"marginal improvements" is correct and usable in written English. You can use it when referring to small or incremental enhancements in a process, product, or performance. For example, "The team focused on making marginal improvements to the software's user interface." Alternative expressions include "slight enhancements" and "incremental gains."

✓ Grammatically correct

News & Media

Science

Formal & Business

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

58 human-written examples

Politicians may be willing to criticize certain styles of state violence (especially when they were perpetrated by a previous administration), and even tinker with reforms at the margins, but marginal improvements still leave room for vast suffering.

Vice

As optimism starts to pick up, as all types of businesses are starting to see marginal improvements, it's a better climate and consumer spending begins to improve".

The New York Times

Swedish free schools have seen marginal improvements in children's progress.

The Guardian - Opinion

"In contrast, we have made only marginal improvements in reading".

The New York Times

When we are making policy, we're inevitably dealing with marginal improvements and large uncertainties.

The New York Times

And all this is for marginal improvements in speed and access.

The Economist

Wherever prices are headed, though, transportation analysts say passengers and drivers will see only marginal improvements in service next year.

The New York Times

And yet sceptics warn that the waste at the heart of the blockchain is not worth the marginal improvements.

The Guardian

Of course, the rings could be gauged so that marginal improvements would change the color to green.

The New York Times

Our goal is to move beyond marginal improvements to harness new technologies that will support a new strategy".

The New York Times

"Marginal improvements are not going to have a significant impact on increasing loan modifications," Mr. Glaser said.

The New York Times

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Pair this phrase with words like 'only' or 'just' if you want to emphasize that the progress was disappointing or insufficient for the effort exerted.

Common error

Do not use 'marginalized improvements' when you mean small improvements. 'Marginalized' refers to people or groups treated as insignificant or peripheral in society, whereas 'marginal' in this context refers to the size or scale of the change itself.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "marginal improvements" functions as a noun phrase where 'marginal' acts as a limiting adjective. In the examples provided by Ludwig, it typically serves as the direct object of verbs like 'see', 'make' or 'realize', quantifying the degree of change in a specific variable.

Expression frequency: Very common

Frequent in

Science

45%

News & Media

40%

Formal & Business

15%

Less common in

Social Media

5%

Wiki

3%

Encyclopedias

2%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

According to Ludwig AI, "marginal improvements" is a robust and highly useful phrase for describing small-scale progress. It is most prevalent in scientific and journalistic contexts where precision is required to distinguish between minor tweaks and major breakthroughs. While it often carries a slightly dismissive tone when used with words like 'only', it is also a key term in optimization strategies (like 'marginal gains'). The phrase is grammatically sound and universally accepted in formal English writing.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

incremental improvements

Focuses on the repetitive and cumulative nature of the small changes.

incremental gains

Emphasizes the step-by-step nature of the progress rather than just the small size.

slight enhancements

Uses a more positive connotation (enhancements) while maintaining the small scale (slight).

minor refinements

Focuses on the polishing or adjustment of an existing system rather than a general improvement.

nominal progress

Suggests that the improvement exists in name or is very small, sometimes implying it is insufficient.

modest advancements

A more humble or cautious way to describe progress that is not groundbreaking.

small upgrades

Common in tech and product contexts to describe minor version updates.

gradual betterments

Emphasizes the slow passage of time during which the improvements occur.

fractional increases

Used often in mathematics or finance to denote very precise, tiny improvements.

negligible gains

Suggests the improvement is so small it might not even be worth considering.

FAQs

How to use "marginal improvements" in a sentence?

You can use it to describe small changes, for example: "The new software update offered only "marginal improvements" in battery life."

What can I say instead of "marginal improvements"?

Depending on your tone, you could use "slight enhancements", "incremental gains" or "minor refinements".

What is the difference between "marginal improvements" and "significant progress"?

The primary difference is scale. While "significant progress" implies a major breakthrough or large-scale change, "marginal improvements" refers to tiny, often incremental steps that do not fundamentally change the overall status quo.

Is "marginal improvements" considered formal English?

Yes, it is a professional and neutral term. As shown in Ludwig, it frequently appears in academic journals like "Science Magazine" and news outlets like "The Economist".