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majority

majority

732 2.1
More than half of the votes in an election that decide the result
  • noun
  • /məˈdʒɔrɪti/
translation icon : mayoría
  • Which means that the majority is going to rule.
  • a majority vote
  • majority rule
  • win a majority

They have a super majority in every chamber.

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Examples

  • No candidate yet has ever received a majority without being nominated.

  • They just voted by secret ballot and a simple majority decided the issue.

  • There has to be majority vote.

  • We have the majority we need for you to become your own man.

  • Notice also that the national majority is not just a majority in a given territory.

    Academic text (1999)
  • And each district has one vote, and the majority wins and carries the day.

  • No candidate having achieved the necessary majority, we shall resume voting tomorrow morning.

  • An overwhelming majority says that governments are run by a few large, selfish interests.

    Academic text (2017)
  • A majority of senators have voted in the affirmative.

  • A majority of voters supported the new policy in the recent election.

Synonyms

absolute majority
vsmajority
2 3.9

More than half of all the votes in an election or decision

has identical meaning but serves as a broader common term

Antonyms

259 2.8

The smaller group that has fewer members or votes

Compounds

A very large part of a group that includes almost all members

91 5.0

A person who leads the political party with the most members in a law-making body like a senate or house

10 6.3

More than half of the judges agree on a written explanation of the court's decision

silent majority
  • Literature
7 5.6

A large group of people who do not speak in public yet hold views not heard from loud groups

Decisions made by most people in a group

More than half of all the votes in an election or decision

The largest number of votes for a person running for office that is less than half

majority operation
  • Specialized
8.7

A rule that gives 1 when more than half the inputs are 1 and 0 otherwise

How Majoritarian

supermajority
14 6.8
majority
732 2.1
consensus
309 4.1
unanimity
13 6.7

Surface Forms

majority singular
majorities plural

Morphology

majority = major (transparent) = major + ity

Formed by the adjective 'major' + the noun-forming suffix '-ity', meaning the state or quality of being greater; this directly yields the 'more than half' sense.

Etymology

Majority comes from the Latin word major, meaning 'greater' or 'bigger'. So in voting a majority is the 'greater' group — usually 'more than half' the votes.