Majority

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ma=jor=i=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

Majority, n. [F. majorité. See Major.].

•  The quality or condition of being major or greater; superiority.  [1913 Webster]
•  The greater number; more than half; as, a majority of mankind; a majority of the votes cast.  [1913 Webster]
•  Ancestors; ancestry.  [1913 Webster]
•  The amount or number by which one aggregate exceeds all other aggregates with which it is contrasted; especially, the number by which the votes for a successful candidate exceed those for all other candidates; as, he is elected by a majority of five hundred votes. See Plurality.  [1913 Webster]

To go over to the majority or To join the majority, to die.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Majority, n. (pl. -ies)
1 (usu. foll. by of) the greater number or part.

Idiom

the great majority
1 much the greater number.
2 euphem. the dead (has joined the great majority). in the majority esp. Polit. belonging to or constituting a majority party etc. majority rule the principle that the greater number should exercise greater power. majority verdict a verdict given by more than half of the jury, but not unanimous.

Usage

Strictly used only with countable nouns, e.g. a majority of people, and not with mass nouns, e.g. a majority of the work.
2 Polit. a the number by which the votes cast for one party, candidate, etc. exceed those of the next in rank (won by a majority of 151). b a party etc. receiving the greater number of votes.
3 full legal age (attained his majority).
4 the rank of major.

Etymology

F majorit{eacute} f. med.L majoritas -tatis (as MAJOR)

THESAURUS

Majority

accomplishment, adulthood, adultness, age of consent, ascendancy, best part, better part, body, bulk, deanship, driving age, essence, excellence, favor, flower of age, full age, full bloom, full growth, fullgrownness, generality, gist, gravamen, greatness, grown-upness, incomparability, inimitability, lead, legal age, legalis homo, main body, major part, manhood, manlihood, mass, mature age, maturity, meat, more than half, most, one-upmanship, plurality, precedence, predominance, predomination, preeminence, preponderance, preponderancy, prepotence, prepotency, prerogative, prestige, prime, prime of life, priority, privilege, right-of-way, ripe age, riper years, seniority, skill, substance, success, superiority, the greatest number, thrust, toga virilis, transcendence, transcendency, virility, virtuosity, womanhood, womanlihood, years of discretion

ROGET THESAURUS

Majority

Superiority

N superiority, majority, greatness, advantage, pull, preponderance, preponderation, vantage ground, prevalence, partiality, personal superiority, nobility, Triton among the minnows, primus inter pares, nulli secundus, captain, crackajack, supremacy, preeminence, lead, maximum, record, trikumia, climax, culmination, transcendence, ne plus ultra, lion's share, Benjamin's mess, excess, surplus, (redundancy), superior, greater, major, higher, exceeding, great, distinguished, ultra, vaulting, more than a match for, supreme, greatest, utmost, paramount, preeminent, foremost, crowning, first-rate, unrivaled peerless, matchless, none such, second to none, sans pareil, unparagoned, unparalleled, unequalled, unapproached, unsurpassed, superlative, inimitable facile princeps, incomparable, sovereign, without parallel, nulli secundus, ne plus ultra, beyond compare, beyond comparison, culminating, transcendent, transcendental, plus royaliste que le Roi, more catholic than the Pope increased, enlarged, beyond, more, over, over the mark, above the mark, above par, upwards of, in advance of, over and above, at the top of the scale, at its height, eminently, egregiously, preeminently, surpassing, prominently, superlatively, supremely, above all, of all things, the most, to crown all, kat exochin, par excellence, principally, especially, particularly, peculiarly, a fortiori, even, yea, still more, I shall not look upon his like again, deos fortioribus addesse.

Plurality

N plurality, a number, a certain number, one or two, two or three, a few, several, multitude, majority, multitude, plural, more than one, upwards of, some, several, a few, certain, not alone, et cetera, etc, among other things, inter alia, non deficit alter.

Multitude

N multitude, numerous, numerosity, numerality, multiplicity, profusion, legion, host, great number, large number, round number, enormous number, a quantity, numbers, array, sight, army, sea, galaxy, scores, peck, bushel, shoal, swarm, draught, bevy, cloud, flock, herd, drove, flight, covey, hive, brood, litter, farrow, fry, nest, crowd, lots, all in the world and his wife, greater number, majority, multiplication, multiple, many, several, sundry, divers, various, not a few, Briarean, a hundred, a thousand, a myriad, a million, a quadrillion, a nonillion, a thousand and one, some ten or a dozen, some forty or fifty, half a dozen, half a hundred, very many, full many, ever so many, numerous, numerose, profuse, in profusion, manifold, multiplied, multitudinous, multiple, multinominal, teeming, populous, peopled, crowded, thick, studded, galore, thick coming, many more, more than one can tell, a world of, no end of, no end to, cum multis aliis, thick as hops, thick as hail, plenty as blackberries, numerous as the stars in the firmament, numerous as the sands on the seashore, numerous as the hairs on the head, and what not, and heaven knows what, endless, their name is 'legion', acervatim, en foule, many- headed multitude, numerous as glittering gems of morning dew, vel prece vel pretio.

Adolescence

N adolescence, pubescence, majority, adultism, adultness, manhood, virility, maturity full age, ripe age, flower of age, prime of life, meridian of life, spring of life, man, woman, adult, no chicken, adolescent, pubescent, of age, of full age, of ripe age, out of one's teens, grown up, mature, full grown, in one's prime, middle-aged, manly, virile, adult, womanly, matronly, marriageable, nubile, Time with reference to an Effect or Purpose.