minority

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: mi=nor=i=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

minority, n. [Cf. F. minorité. See Minor, a. & n.].

•  The state of being a minor, or under age.  [1913 Webster]
•  State of being less or small.  Sir T. Browne.  [1913 Webster]
•  The smaller number; -- opposed to majority; as, the minority must be ruled by the majority.  [1913 Webster]
•  Those members of a legislature that belong to the political party which is in the minority in that institution; as, the bill will pass even if the minority are strongly opposed.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

minority, n. (pl. -ies)
1 (often foll. by of) a smaller number or part, esp. within a political party or structure.
2 the number of votes cast for this (a minority of two).
3 the state of having less than half the votes or of being supported by less than half of the body of opinion (in the minority).
4 a relatively small group of people differing from others in the society of which they are a part in race, religion, language, political persuasion, etc.
5 (attrib.) relating to or done by the minority (minority interests).
6 a the state of being under full legal age. b the period of this.

Etymology

F minorit{eacute} or med.L minoritas f. L minor: see MINOR

THESAURUS

minority

back seat, callowness, dewiness, disability, disablement, disqualification, freshness, greenness, humbleness, humility, imbecility, immaturity, inability, inadequacy, incapability, incapacitation, incapacity, incompetence, incompetency, inefficiency, ineptitude, inexperience, infancy, inferiority, insufficiency, juiciness, juniority, least, legal incapacity, lowliness, minority group, nonage, rawness, sappiness, second fiddle, second string, secondariness, servility, subjection, subordinacy, subordination, subservience, the few, the minority, third string, undevelopment, unfitness, unripeness, wardship, we happy few

ROGET THESAURUS

minority

Inferiority

N inferiority, minority, subordinacy, shortcoming, deficiency, minimum, smallness, imperfection, lower quality, lower worth, commonalty, inferior, smaller, small, minor, less, lesser, deficient, minus, lower, subordinate, secondary, secondrate, sub, subaltern, thrown into the shade, weighed in the balance and found wanting, not fit to hold a candle to, can't hold a candle to, least, smallest &c (little) (small), lowest, diminished, reduced, unimportant, less, under the mark, below the mark, below par, at the bottom of the scale, at a low ebb, at a disadvantage, short of, under.

Fewness

N fewness, paucity, small number, small quantity, rarity, infrequency, handful, maniple, minority, exiguity, reduction, weeding, elimination, sarculation, decimation, eradication, few, scant, scanty, thin, rare, scattered, thinly scattered, spotty, few and far between, exiguous, infrequent, rari nantes, hardly any, scarcely any, to be counted on one's fingers, reduced, unrepeated, rarely, here and there.

Youth

N youth, juvenility, juvenescence, juniority, infancy, babyhood, childhood, boyhood, girlhood, youthhood, incunabula, minority, nonage, teens, tender age, bloom, cradle, nursery, leading strings, pupilage, puberty, pucelage, prime of life, flower of life, springtide of life, seedtime of life, golden season of life, heyday of youth, school days, rising generation, young, youthful, juvenile, green, callow, budding, sappy, puisne, beardless, under age, in one's teens, in statu pupillari, younger, junior, hebetic, unfledged, youth on the prow and pleasure at the helm, youth a the glad season of life.