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Most or Majority - What's the difference?

most | majority |

As nouns the difference between most and majority

is that most is the greatest amount while majority is more than half (50%) of some group.

As a determiner most

is superlative form of much.

As an adverb most

is superlative form of many.

most

English

Determiner

(en determiner)
  • Superlative form of much.
  • Most people like chocolate.
    Most simply choose to ignore it.
    Most want the best for their children.

    Synonyms

    * almost all

    Adverb

    (-)
  • Superlative form of many.
  • :
  • *
  • *:At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-16, author= John Vidal
  • , volume=189, issue=10, page=8, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas , passage=Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.}}
  • Superlative form of much.
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Boundary problems , passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most -used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its apparent simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month.}}
  • :
  • *, chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the' poorest and ' most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes
  • To a great extent or degree; highly; very.
  • :
  • *1895 , , (The Time Machine) Chapter X
  • *:Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing.
  • Antonyms

    * fewest * least

    Derived terms

    * -most * make the most of * mostly * foremost

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (uncountable) The greatest amount.
  • The most I can offer for the house is $150,000.
  • (countable) A record-setting amount.
  • Usage notes

    * In the sense of (record), used when the positive denotation of (best) does not apply.

    Statistics

    *

    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