Minority \Mi*nor"i*ty\, n.; pl. Minorities. [Cf. F.
minorit['e]. See Minor, a. & n.]
[1913 Webster]
1. The state of being a minor, or under age.
[1913 Webster]
2. State of being less or small. [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne.
[1913 Webster]
3. The smaller number; -- opposed to majority; as, the
minority must be ruled by the majority.
[1913 Webster]
4. Those members of a legislature that belong to the
political party which is in the minority in that
institution; as, the bill will pass even if the minority
are strongly opposed.
[PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
minority
n 1: a group of people who differ racially or politically from a
larger group of which it is a part
2: being or relating to the smaller in number of two parts;
"when the vote was taken they were in the minority"; "he
held a minority position" [ant: majority]
3: any age prior to the legal age [syn: nonage] [ant: majority]
WordNet (r) 2.0
50 Moby Thesaurus words for "minority":
back seat, callowness, dewiness, disability, disablement,
disqualification, freshness, greenness, humbleness, humility,
imbecility, immaturity, inability, inadequacy, incapability,
incapacitation, incapacity, incompetence, incompetency,
inefficiency, ineptitude, inexperience, infancy, inferiority,
insufficiency, juiciness, juniority, least, legal incapacity,
lowliness, minority group, nonage, rawness, sappiness,
second fiddle, second string, secondariness, servility, subjection,
subordinacy, subordination, subservience, the few, the minority,
third string, undevelopment, unfitness, unripeness, wardship,
we happy few
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
MINORITY. The state or condition of a minor; infancy. In another sense, it
signifies the lesser number of votes of a deliberative assembly; opposed to
majority. (q.v.)
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
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