different between majority vs mob

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: m?b, IPA^(key): /m?b/
• (General American) enPR: m?b, IPA^(key): /m?b/
• Rhymes: -?b

Etymology 1

From Middle English mob, short for mobile, from Latin m?bile (vulgus) (“fickle (crowd)”). The video-gaming sense originates from English mobile, used by Richard Bartle for objects capable of movement in an early MUD.

Noun

mob (plural mobs)

1. A large or disorderly group of people; especially one bent on riotous or destructive action.
   • February 13, 1788, James Madison, Jr., Federalist No. 55

     Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.

2. (collective noun) A group of animals such as horses or cattle.
3. A flock of emus.
4. The Mafia, or a similar group that engages in organized crime (preceded by the).

   • The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

   • 1986, Paul Chadwick, Concrete: Under the Desert Stars, Dark Horse Books

     What if it is a mob killing? They can’t hurt me, but …

5. (video games) A non-player character, especially one that exists to be fought or killed to further the progression of the story or game.
   • 2002, "Wolfie", Re: Whoa - massive changes due in next patch (on newsgroup alt.games.everquest)

     You can't win with small, balanced groups. You have to zerg the mob with a high number of players.

6. (archaic) The lower classes of a community; the rabble.
7. (Australian Aboriginal) A group of Aboriginal people associated with an extended family group, clan group or wider community group, from a particular place or country.
   • 2011 March 10, Allan Clarke, W.A. through Noongar eyes

     There’s nothing like local knowledge and after thousands of years living here the Noongar mob understand this land better than anyone, so it makes sense for them to tap into the lucrative tourism industry.

Synonyms

• (mafia): mafia, Mafia

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

mob (third-person singular simple present mobs, present participle mobbing, simple past and past participle mobbed)

1. (transitive) To crowd around (someone), sometimes with hostility.

   The fans mobbed a well-dressed couple who resembled their idols.
2. (transitive) To crowd into or around a place.

   The shoppers mobbed the store on the first day of the sale.

Translations

Etymology 2

Alteration of mab.

Noun

mob (plural mobs)

1. (obsolete) A promiscuous woman; a harlot or wench; a prostitute. [17th-18th c.]
2. A mob cap.
   • c. 1773-1774, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs Bunbury

     cover their faces with mobs

Derived terms

• mob cap

Verb

mob (third-person singular simple present mobs, present participle mobbing, simple past and past participle mobbed)

1. (transitive) To wrap up in, or cover with, a cowl.

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of mobile phone.

Noun

mob (plural mobs)

1. mobile phone

Usage notes

• This is most often used in signwriting to match with the other three-letter abbreviations tel (“telephone”) and fax (“facsimile”).

Further reading

• Mob in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

References

Anagrams

• BMO, BOM, BoM, MBO, OMB

Danish

Verb

mob

1. imperative of mobbe

French

Etymology

Abbreviated form of mobylette.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?b/

Noun

mob f (plural mobs)

1. (colloquial) scooter, moped

Further reading

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

Volapük

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mob/

Noun

mob (nominative plural mobs)

1. suggestion

Declension

Derived terms

• mobön

White Hmong

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m??/

Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *?mun (“illness, pain”). Cognate with Iu Mien mun.

Verb

mob

1. to be ill/sick; to hurt; to be unwell

References

• Ernest E. Heimbach, White Hmong - English Dictionary (1979, SEAP Publications)