Other forms: majorities
A majority is more than half — the larger side of a vote. A clear majority, a majority of members, win by a majority.
In elections, the majority is often the winner's margin over the runner-up rather than more than half of all votes, which is a real source of confusion. An absolute majority means more than all the others combined. The vast majority means almost all. Note majority verdict, meaning one that is not unanimous; age of majority, meaning legal adulthood; and minority, its opposite.
1nounmajorityMore than half; the larger side of a vote.
“The majority of students voted to keep the school uniform.”
2nounwinnersThe winner's margin over the runner-up.
“She won the seat with a majority of two thousand votes over her rival.”
majority is a larger part.
Latin maioritas comes from maior, greater — the comparative of magnus. Major, mayor and majority all descend from it, and a mayor is simply the greater one of the town.
Latin
maiōritās
Medieval Latin
maiōritātem
Middle French
maiorité
English, today
majority
From Middle French maiorité, from Medieval Latin maiōritātem, accusative of Latin maiōritās, from Latin maior (“greater”). Morphologically major + ity.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA