Meaning

6 senses
  1. (countable, uncountable)More than half (50%) of some group.

    The majority agreed that the new proposal was the best.

    Those opposing the building plans were in the majority, so the building project was canceled.

    Mehrheit, Majorität

    большинство́bolʹšinstvó

    бі́льшістьbílʹšistʹ

    (elections) more than half of the votes

  2. (broadly, countable, uncommon, uncountable)Any share or fraction that is bigger than any one of its counterpart shares or fractions (of the same whole).

  3. (countable, uncountable)In a parliament or legislature, the difference in seats between the ruling party and the opposition; (UK) in an election, the difference in votes between the winning candidate and the second-place candidate, or between the winning candidate and all of the other candidates combined.

    The ruling party had a narrow three-seat majority in the legislature.

    The winner with 53% had a 6% majority over the loser with 47%.

    перевесpereves

  4. (countable, dated, uncountable)Legal adulthood, age of majority.

    By the time I reached my majority, I had already been around the world twice.

    Erwachsenenalter

  5. (UK, countable, uncountable)The office held by a member of the armed forces in the rank of major.

    On receiving the news of his promotion, Charles Snodgrass said he was delighted to be entering his majority.

  6. (countable, uncountable)Ancestors; ancestry.

Examples

295 sentences
  1. The bill was passed by an overwhelming majority.

    Законопроект було прийнято переважною більшістю.

    ruЗаконопроект был принят подавляющим большинством.

    deDer Gesetzesentwurf wurde mit überwältigender Mehrheit verabschiedet.

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  2. A majority voted against the bill.

    deDie Mehrheit stimmte gegen den Gesetzentwurf.

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  3. The majority didn't accept the proposal.

    ruБольшинство не приняло предложение.

    deDie Mehrheit nahm den Antrag nicht an.

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  4. The majority is not always right.

    ruБольшинство не всегда право.

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  5. A majority voted against the measure.

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Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
more than half:
Русский
By meaning 2
more than half:
difference between the winning vote and the rest of the votes:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
more than half:
legal adulthood:

Origin

From Middle French maiorité, from Medieval Latin maiōritātem, accusative of Latin maiōritā

From Middle French maiorité, from Medieval Latin maiōritātem, accusative of Latin maiōritās, from Latin maior (“greater”). Morphologically major + -ity.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: majorities
Singularmajority
Pluralmajorities

regular

Synonyms

3 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • the property resulting from being or relating to the greater in number of two parts; the main part:bulk
  • (elections) more than half of the votes:absolute majority
  • the age at which persons are considered competent to manage their own affairs:legal age

Antonyms

1 antonyms

Word family

27 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
majority — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto