minority

Pluralminorities

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A subgroup that forms less than half of a total, fewer in number than the rest of the group.

   A vocal minority opposed the new policy, but most members supported it.

   Women remain a minority in many engineering departments.

   Oppositemajority

   Note

   Agreement is worth watching here. In "a sizable minority were upset," the verb is plural because the people are thought of one by one. A singular verb treats the group as a single body. Fewness says nothing about weakness. Al Jazeera wrote in 2017 of a nation's elite minority, small in number but powerful. That is the opposite of the sociologist's subordinated group.

2. 2
   nounUScountable

   A person who is a member of an ethnic group smaller in number than the dominant one in a society.

   The hiring committee made an effort to recruit more minorities.

   He was the only minority on the board for years.

   Note

   This is American usage, and it turns a group word into a count noun for individuals. A company can claim to have "hired several minorities." It belongs mostly to the language of employment and hiring. Where that usage is not at home, "a member of a minority" carries the same meaning without counting people by their group.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A socially distinct group that holds less power and faces discrimination within a larger society.

   Sociologists study how a minority maintains its identity under pressure from the dominant culture.

   Throughout history, minorities have organized to demand equal rights.

   Oppositemajority

   Note

   Sociologists measure this kind of minority by power, not by headcount. Helen Mayer Hacker's 1951 essay "Women as Minority Group" made the point directly by placing women alongside other minorities, even though women are no numerical minority. In this usage the contrast is with the dominant group, not with the majority, and a minority in this sense can outnumber those who dominate it.

4. 4
   adjectivebefore a noun

   Relating to or characteristic of a group that forms a minority within a larger population.

   The festival highlights minority music traditions from across the region.

   Minority neighborhoods were often overlooked in city planning.

   Oppositemainstream

   Note

   The noun is put to work before another noun, and it does not always refer to people. A minority interest in a company is simply a holding of less than half, the business-page use of the word. In this attributive position it classifies rather than describes, so it answers "what kind?" (a minority interest, a minority tradition) rather than "how much?"

5. 5
   adjectivebefore a noun

   Holding power through, or representing, less than half of the votes cast or seats held, often a plurality rather than an outright majority.

   The minority government relied on smaller parties to pass its budget.

   A minority faction controlled the committee despite winning fewer seats overall.

   Note

   Parliamentary systems have a name for winning without winning outright: a minority government. The party holding power has usually come first, with a plurality of seats, but it still falls short of half. It therefore needs other parties to pass its business. A party that simply came second is a different thing: it is the opposition, not a minority government.

6. 6
   noununcountable

   The period of a person's life before reaching adulthood; the legal state of being a minor.

   Guardians administered the property until the heir's minority ended.

   During her minority, decisions about her future were made by her uncle.

   Similarchildhood

   Oppositeadulthood

   Note

   Built from minor plus -ity, through Middle French minorité and Late Latin minōritās, this sense refers to one person's minority, the years spent as a minor. In history writing it is often a royal matter. Norman Davies, in Vanished Kingdoms (2011), describes a dowager-regent governing during the minority of her son. The phrase is usually framed as "during the minority of" someone, and its plain opposite is adulthood.

7. 7
   nouneuphemisticIndiacountable

   In India, a polite and indirect way of referring to a Muslim.

   Minorities from the old city lined up at the Haj office to hand in their pilgrimage forms.

   As a minority, he observed Ramadan with his family each year.

   Note

   A euphemism of Indian English, it avoids naming the religion outright. Because it sounds identical to the everyday meaning of a smaller group, an outside reader can easily miss what is meant. Mentions of Haj, Ramadan or the old city around the word usually make it clear. Where nothing in the context points that way, "Muslim" is the plainer choice.

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