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Definition of "minority" []

  • The smaller in number of two groups forming a whole. (noun)
  • A group or party having fewer than a controlling number of votes. (noun)
  • A racial, religious, political, national, or other group thought to be different from the larger group of which it is part. (noun)
  • A group having little power or representation relative to other groups within a society. (noun)
  • A member of one of these groups. See Usage Note at color. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "minority" in a sentence
  • "The powerful Socialist and revolutionary minority created in industrial communities by equal suffrage and a democratic form of government, _as long as it remains distinctly a minority_, is unable to injure the combined forces of capitalism, while it furnishes a useful and invaluable club by which the progressive capitalists can threaten and overwhelm the reactionaries."
  • "The term minority itself is far more likely to be applied to blacks and Asians than to Jews, even though in a worldwide sense Jews fit the definition far better, and even within the United States are far fewer in number than blacks."
  • "So recently in the comments section of my blog, one of my readers said , “can we stop using the term minority now. it is obvious that whites are the minority.”"