majority

noun

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

1. 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.”

2. 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%.”

3. Legal adulthood, age of majority.

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

4. 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. Ancestors; ancestry.

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