majority

noun

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.”

   “But in 1912 the American people gave the Democrats another opportunity, and under the leadership of Woodrow Wilson we swept the country from sea to sea. At the end of that historic contest we had the Presidency, the Senate by a working majority, and the House by an overwhelming majority.”

   “They and the airline itself described an internal process that requires multiple departments to manually redesign the airline’s schedule – a system that works “the vast majority of the time,” Southwest said in a statement.”

2. (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%.”

   “Now, there is talk of Democrats potentially being locked out of a Senate majority for a time to come because of trends in the electorate. […] This shouldn’t be surprising. As political analyst Sean Trende posited in the book “The Lost Majority,” history is filled with examples of majorities falling apart and the parties coming in and out of power.”

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

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

4. (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.”

   “He was a captain before he went to the front, and following the Argonne battles he got his majority and the command of the divisional machine-guns.”

5. (countable, uncountable)Ancestors; ancestry.

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