{
  "id": "trimming-the-fat.margin",
  "term": "trimming the fat",
  "sense": "margin",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 18,
  "arena": "optimization",
  "domain": "economy",
  "style": "folk",
  "definition": "Work that removes parts outside the boundary of what is required, narrowing the range between what persists and what ends, mistaking the margin for waste when it was holding the window open.",
  "folk_gloss": "removing unnecessary parts to make something more efficient",
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "margin.spatial",
      "window.range",
      "boundary.limit",
      "narrow.spatial",
      "maintenance.upkeep"
    ],
    "interaction": "passive",
    "novel_properties": [
      "emergence.window_exit_versus_removed_part.distinction"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "In 2008, Detroit cut streetlight maintenance, leaving 40% of lights dark, increasing crashes and disuse.",
      "domain": "cities"
    },
    {
      "text": "The 2011 Fukushima plant lacked seawall height to match historical tsunami ranges, dismissed as excessive.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "Cutting fungal mycelium networks in soil reduced forest resilience, once thought inert 'dirt'.",
      "domain": "ecology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "trim the fat",
    "trimming the fat"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "phrases:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.7,
    "sources": [
      "folk phrase — margin eaten by optimization"
    ]
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-trimming-the-fat.margin"
}