majority

majority
noun
1 most
ADJECTIVE
big, great, huge, large, overwhelming, significant, sizeable, solid, strong, substantial, vast
silent

The march was by the silent majority who oppose terrorism.

moral
black, white

countries which have an English-speaking white majority

ethnic
VERB + MAJORITY
compose, constitute, form, make up

English speakers form the majority of the population.

join

He joined the majority in criticizing the government's reforms.

MAJORITY + NOUN
community, culture, group, population
language, religion
opinion, view
decision
owner, shareholder
ownership
interest, share, stake

The French company holds a majority stake in the retail chain.

PREPOSITION
in the majority

In the general population, right-handed people are in the majority.

PHRASES
in the majority of cases

In the vast majority of cases, customers get their money back.

2 in an election
ADJECTIVE
big, huge, large, massive (esp. BrE), overwhelming, solid, strong, substantial
clear, comfortable, decisive (esp. BrE)
bare, narrow, slender (esp. BrE), slight, slim, small, tiny (esp. BrE)
razor-thin (AmE), wafer-thin (BrE)
160-seat, etc.
two-to-one (BrE), two-thirds, etc.
absolute, outright, overall

Although they are the biggest single party, they don't have an outright majority.

popular
simple
working (esp. BrE)

To govern effectively, he will need a working majority in Congress.

the first Labour government with a clear working majority in the House

electoral
legislative (esp. AmE)
parliamentary
government (BrE)
Labour, Republican, etc.
necessary
VERB + MAJORITY
carry, command, have, hold
achieve, capture, gain, garner, get, obtain, secure, win

They failed to win the requisite two-thirds majority.

build

If the Republicans want to build a majority, they need the north-east.

increase

Republicans increased their majority in both the House and the Senate.

defend (BrE), maintain, retain
lose
overturn (esp. BrE)
indicate, show
MAJORITY + NOUN
government, rule
leader, whip
party
decision
vote, voting (esp. BrE)
support
position, status
control
PREPOSITION
by a majority

They won by a huge majority.

majority against

Latest opinion polls have a comfortable majority against the reform.

majority in

a majority in the Senate

majority in favour/favor of

Opinion polls indicated a two-thirds majority in favour/favor of ratification of the treaty.

majority over

He has a decisive majority over his main rivals.


Collocations dictionary. 2013.

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Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • majority — We are concerned here with three related uses, two of them relatively straightforward and one that gives rise to a difficulty: 1. majority = ‘a superiority in numbers’, especially in political contexts, ‘the amount by which a winning vote exceeds …   Modern English usage

  • majority — ma·jor·i·ty /mə jȯr ə tē/ n pl ties 1 a: legal age b: the status of one who has reached legal age 2 a: a number or quantity greater than half of a total compare plu …   Law dictionary

  • Majority — • The state of a person or thing greater, or superior, in relation to another person or thing Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Majority     Majority      …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Majority — Ma*jor i*ty, n.; pl. {Majorities}. [F. majorit[ e]. See {Major}.] 1. The quality or condition of being major or greater; superiority. Specifically: (a) The military rank of a major. (b) The condition of being of full age, or authorized by law to… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • majority — majority, plurality are arbitrarily defined in the United States, especially by statute, when they refer to an excess of votes as determining an election. Both imply an excess of votes over the next highest candidate. The distinction between the… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • majority — ► NOUN (pl. majorities) 1) the greater number. 2) Brit. the number by which the votes cast for one party or candidate exceed those for the next. 3) the age when a person is legally considered a full adult, usually 18 or 21. USAGE Strictly… …   English terms dictionary

  • majority — (n.) 1550s, condition of being greater, superiority, from M.Fr. majorité (16c.), from M.L. majoritatem (nom. majoritas) majority, from L. maior greater (see MAJOR (Cf. major) (adj.)). Sense of state of being of full age is attested from 1560s;… …   Etymology dictionary

  • majority — [n1] plurality, most best part*, bulk, greater number, greater part, larger part, lion’s share*, mass, max*, more, more than half*, preponderance, superiority; concepts 766,829,835 Ant. minority, secondary majority [n2] adulthood age of consent,… …   New thesaurus

  • majority — [mə jôr′ə tē, məjär′ə tē] n. pl. majorities [Fr majorité < ML majoritas < L major: see MAJOR] 1. [also with pl. v.] the greater part or larger number; more than half of a total ☆ 2. the number by which the votes cast for the candidate, bill …   English World dictionary

  • Majority — This article is about the mathematical concept of majority. For other uses, see Majority (disambiguation). A majority is a subset of a group consisting of more than half of its members. This can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset… …   Wikipedia

  • majority — ▪ I. majority ma‧jor‧i‧ty 1 [məˈdʒɒrti ǁ məˈdʒɔː , məˈdʒɑː ] noun majorities PLURALFORM 1. [singular] most of the people or things in a particular group: • Some franchisees quit, but the majority are still hanging on. majority of …   Financial and business terms

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