Majority People Number Votes Favour Vast Wins Noun

• the majority of people interviewed prefer tv to radio.
• the majority was/were in favour of banning smoking.
• this treatment is not available in the vast majority of hospitals.
• a majority decision (= one that is decided by what most people want)

majority

1. the largest part of a group of people or things
• opposite minority
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/minority
• The majority of people interviewed prefer TV to radio.
• The majority was/were in favour of banning smoking.
• This treatment is not available in the vast majority of hospitals.
• a majority decision (= one that is decided by what most people want)
• In the nursing profession, women are in a/the majority.
2. the number of votes by which one political party wins an election; the number of votes by which one side in a discussion, etc. wins
• She was elected by/with a majority of 749.
• a clear (= large) majority
• They had a large majority over their nearest rivals.
• The government does not have an overall majority (= more members than all the other parties added together).
• The resolution was carried by a huge majority.
3. the difference between the number of votes given to the candidate who wins the election and the total number of votes of all the other candidates
• see also plurality
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/plurality
4. the age at which you are legally considered to be an adult
• The age of majority in Britain was reduced from 21 to 18 in 1970.

Extra Examples

• English speakers form the majority of the population.
• He has a decisive majority over his main rivals.
• He joined the majority in criticizing the government’s reforms.
• If the Republicans want to build a majority, they need the north-east.
• In the general population, right-handed people are in the majority.
• In the vast majority of cases, customers get their money back.
• Latest opinion polls have a comfortable majority against the reform.
• Opinion polls indicated a two-thirds majority in favour of ratification of the treaty.
• Republicans increased their majority in both the House and the Senate.
• The French company holds a majority stake in the retail chain.
• The march was by the silent majority who oppose terrorism.
• They failed to win the requisite two-thirds majority.
• They won by a huge majority.
• To govern effectively, he will need a working majority in Congress.
• a majority in Parliament
• a majority in the Senate
• countries which have an English-speaking white majority
• the first Labour government with a clear working majority in the House

Word Origin

• mid 16th cent. (denoting superiority): from French majorité, from medieval Latin majoritas, from Latin major, comparative of magnus ‘great’.