majority

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   More than half (50%) of some group.

   The majority agreed that the new proposal was the best.

2. 2
   noun

   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.

3. 3
   noun

   Legal adulthood, age of majority.

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

4. 4
   noun

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   Ancestors; ancestry.

   Of evil parents an evil generation, a posterity not unlike their majority; of mischievous progenitors, a venomous and destructive progeny.

6. 6
   noun

   the property resulting from being or relating to the greater in number of two parts

7. 7
   noun

   (elections) more than half of the votes

8. 8
   noun

   the age at which persons are considered competent to manage their own affairs

Etymology

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