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Majority vs Masses - What's the difference?

majority | masses |

As nouns the difference between majority and masses

is that majority is more than half (50%) of some group while masses is .

majority

Noun

(majorities)
  • 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.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1920, title=, author=Champ Clark
  • , passage=But in 1912 the American people gave the Democrats another opportunity, and under the leadership of Woodrow Wilson we swept the country from sea to sea. At the end of that historic contest we had the Presidency, the Senate by a working majority, and the House by an overwhelming majority.}}
  • The difference between the winning vote and the rest of the votes
  • The winner with 53% had a 6% majority over the loser with 47%.
  • (dated) Legal adulthood
  • By the time I reached my majority , I had already been around the world twice.
  • (UK) 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 .
  • Ancestors; ancestry.
  • Usage notes

    * Majority in the sense of "more than half" is used with countable nouns only; for example, "The majority of the members of the committee were in favour of the motion." It is incorrect to use with it uncountable nouns, as in "The majority of the world is covered with water." In the latter case, it is preferable to use expressions such as "the larger part of" or "most of" instead of the "the majority of",

    Antonyms

    * (more than half) minority

    Derived terms

    * by a majority * dictatorship of the majority * double majority * majority leader * majority rule * silent majority * simple majority * supermajority * tyranny of the majority

    See also

    * most

    masses

    English

    Noun

    (head)
  • (plural only, generically) People, especially a large number of people
  • * '>citation
  • Since first tossing its cartoonish, good-time cock-rock to the masses in the early ’00s, The Darkness has always fallen back on this defense: The band is a joke, but hey, it’s a good joke. With Hot Cakes—the group’s third album, and first since reforming last year—the laughter has died. In its place is the sad wheeze of the last surviving party balloon slowly, listlessly deflating.
  • (plural only) The total population.
  • The masses will be voting this Tuesday.
  • * 1975 , (Monty Python), '(Monty Python and the Holy Grail)'':
  • Dennis: Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses , not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
  • (plural only) The lower classes or all but the elite.
  • Synonyms

    * (lower classes) unwashed

    Derived terms

    * unwashed masses

    Verb

    (head)
  • (mass)
  • See also

    * unwashed masses ----