different between majority vs major

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /m??d?????ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /m??d?????ti/, /m??d?????ti/
• Rhymes: -???ti

Etymology

From Middle French maiorité, from Medieval Latin m?i?rit?tem, accusative of Latin m?i?rit?s, from Latin m?i?r (“greater”).

Morphologically major +? -ity

Noun

majority (countable and uncountable, plural majorities)

1. More than half (50%) of some group.
2. The difference between the winning vote and the rest of the votes.

3. (dated) Legal adulthood, age of majority.

4. (Britain) The office held by a member of the armed forces in the rank of major.

5. 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." While common in colloquial speech, it is often considered incorrect to use majority with uncountable nouns, as in "The majority of the time was wasted." 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

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• dictatorship of the majority
• go over to the majority
• join the majority
• majority leader
• majority rule
• supermajority
• tyranny of the majority

Related terms

• major
• plurality

See also

• most

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• majour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English major, from Latin maior, comparative of magnus (“great, large; noble, important”), from Proto-Indo-European *ma?-yes- (“greater”), comparative of *ma?-, *me?- (“great”). Compare West Frisian majoar (“major”), Dutch majoor (“major”), French majeur. Doublet of mayor.

Pronunciation

• enPR: m?'j?(r)
• IPA^(key): /?me?.d??(?)/
• Rhymes: -e?d??(?)

Adjective

major (comparative more major, superlative most major)

1. (attributive):
   1. Greater in dignity, rank, importance, significance, or interest.
   2. Greater in number, quantity, or extent.

      Synonym: main

   3. Notable or conspicuous in effect or scope.

      Synonym: considerable

   4. Prominent or significant in size, amount, or degree.

   5. (medicine) Involving great risk, serious, life-threatening.

2. Of full legal age, having attained majority.

3. (education) Of or relating to a subject of academic study chosen as a field of specialization.
4. (music):
   1. (of a scale) Having intervals of a semitone between the third and fourth, and seventh and eighth degrees.

   2. (of an interval) Equivalent to that between the tonic and another note of a major scale, and greater by a semitone than the corresponding minor interval.
      1. Having a major third above the root.

   3. (postpositive) (of a key) Based on a major scale, tending to produce a bright or joyful effect.
   4. (campanology) Bell changes rung on eight bells.
5. (Britain, dated) Indicating the elder of two brothers, appended to a surname in public schools.
6. (logic)
   1. (of a term) Occurring as the predicate in the conclusion of a categorical syllogism.
   2. (of a premise) Containing the major term in a categorical syllogism.

Antonyms

• minor

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

major (plural majors)

1. (military) A rank of officer in the army and the US air force, between captain and lieutenant colonel.
   1. An officer in charge of a section of band instruments, used with a modifier.

      Meronyms: drum major, trumpet major

2. A person of legal age.

   Antonym: minor

3. (music):
   1. Ellipsis of major key.
   2. Ellipsis of major interval.
   3. Ellipsis of major scale.
   4. (campanology) A system of change-ringing using eight bells.
4. A large, commercially successful company, especially a record label that is bigger than an indie.
5. (Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand) The principal subject or course of a student working toward a degree at a college or university.

   Synonym: (UK) course

   1. A student at a college or university specializing on a given area of study.

6. (logic):
   1. Ellipsis of major term.
   2. Ellipsis of major premise.
7. (bridge) Ellipsis of major suit.
8. (Canadian football) A touchdown, or major score.
9. (Australian rules football) A goal.
10. (British slang, dated) An elder brother (especially at a public school).
11. (entomology) A large leaf-cutter ant that acts as a soldier, defending the nest.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

major (third-person singular simple present majors, present participle majoring, simple past and past participle majored)

1. (intransitive) Used in a phrasal verb: major in.

Related terms

• majorant

Translations

References

• “major”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “major”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).

Anagrams

• Jarmo, joram

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin maior.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /m???o/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ma?d??o?/

Adjective

major (masculine and feminine plural majors)

1. larger (superlative: el major / la major—largest)
2. older (superlative: el major / la major—oldest)
3. main, principal
4. (music) major

Derived terms

• majorista
• majorment

Related terms

• majoria

Noun

major m (plural majors)

1. (military) major

Noun

major m or f (plural majors)

1. of age, adult

Further reading

• “major” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “major” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “major” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “major” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Noun

major m

1. major (military)

Declension

Further reading

• major in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• major in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Estonian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Major, from Spanish, from Latin maior.

Noun

major (genitive majori, partitive majorit)

1. major (rank)

Declension

Derived terms

• kindralmajor

French

Etymology

Ultimately from Latin maior. Doublet of maire and majeur.

• (France): French military authorities created in 1972 the rank of major (non-commissioned officer), which can easily be confused with the rank of major (officer) used in many countries, creating problems when communicating with allied forces.
• (Canada): English major. From the British traditional army military rank structure.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.???/

Noun

major m (plural majors)

1. (military, France) major, the upper rank of French non-commissioned officers
2. (military, Canada) major, the commissioned field officer rank

Derived terms

Coordinate terms

• capitaine de corvette (“capc”) (equivalent naval rank to the commissioned field officer rank)

Further reading

• “major” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Hungarian

Etymology

From German [Term?].

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?m?jor]
• Hyphenation: ma?jor
• Rhymes: -or

Noun

major (plural majorok)

1. farm

Declension

Derived terms

• majoros
• majorság

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma??or/

Adjective

major (not comparable)

1. (comparative degree of grande) bigger

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?mai?.i?or/, [?mäi???r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ma.jor/, [?m?j??r]

Adjective

major (neuter majus, positive magnus); third declension

1. Alternative spelling of maior.

Inflection

Third-declension comparative adjective.

References

• major in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• major in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ma.j?r/

Noun

major m pers (abbreviation mjr)

1. major (military rank)

Declension

Further reading

• major in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin maior. Doublet of maior

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ma.????/

Noun

major m (plural majores)

1. (military) major (military rank)

Romanian

Etymology

From French majeur.

Adjective

major m or n (feminine singular major?, masculine plural majori, feminine and neuter plural majore)

1. major

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From German Major, from Latin m?ior.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?jo?r/
• Hyphenation: ma?jor

Noun

màj?r m (Cyrillic spelling ???????)

1. (military, Serbo-Croatian, Serbo-Croatian) major (rank)

Declension

Synonyms

• (Serbo-Croatian): bojnik
• tisu?nik

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

major c

1. a major
2. a Squadron Leader (in the British Royal Air Force)

Declension

References