Plurality vs Null - What's the difference?
plurality | null |
(uncountable) The state of being plural.
(ecclesiastical) The holding of multiple benefices.
* 1644 , (John Milton), Aeropagitica :
(countable) A state of being numerous.
(countable) A number or part of a whole which is greater than any other number or part, but not necessarily a majority.
(countable) A number of votes for a single candidate or position which is greater than the number of votes gained by any other single candidate or position voted for, but which is less than a majority of valid votes cast.
* 1977 September 8, "Crime against clarity", editorial, , page 14 [http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=818zAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TiMIAAAAIBAJ&pg=1343,2352985]:
(countable) A margin by which a number exceeds another number, especially of votes.
* 1948 December 10, "President Race Ignored by 683,382 Voters", , page A-2 [http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=acQcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ulcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6598,2141245]:
(countable) A group of many entities: a large number.
(countable) A group composed of more than one entity.
* 1989 , United States Patent 5065364, abstract:
(of spouses) polygamy.
A non-existent or empty value or set of values.
Zero]] quantity of [[expression, expressions; nothing.
Something that has no force or meaning.
(computing) the ASCII or Unicode character (), represented by a zero value, that indicates no character and is sometimes used as a string terminator.
(computing) the attribute of an entity that has no valid value.
One of the beads in nulled work.
(statistics) null hypothesis
Having no validity, "null and void"
insignificant
* 1924 , Marcel Proust, Within a Budding Grove :
absent or non-existent
(mathematics) of the null set
(mathematics) of or comprising a value of precisely zero
(genetics, of a mutation) causing a complete loss of gene function, amorphic.
As nouns the difference between plurality and null
is that plurality is the state of being plural while null is a non-existent or empty value or set of values.As an adjective null is
having no validity, "null and void.As a verb null is
to nullify; to annul.plurality
English
Noun
- It was the complaint and lamentation of Prelats, upon every least breath of a motion to remove pluralities , and distribute more equally Church revennu's, that then all learning would be for ever dasht and discourag'd.
- To repeal the tax (Question I), a 50 per cent majority vote is required. To keep the tax in its 1976 form (Question III), only a plurality of votes is required.
- Truman's total vote was 24,104,836. Dewey received 21,969,500;. Truman won by a plurality of 2,135,336, but it was the first time since 1916 that a winner has failed to capture a majority of all votes cast.
- A plurality of ideas were put forth at the meeting, most of which were rejected out of hand.
- The array is organized into a plurality of vertical (column) blocks.
Synonyms
* (state of being numerous) multiplicity * relative majority, simple majority * (ecclesiastical) pluralismAntonyms
* singularity * absolute majoritynull
English
Noun
(en noun)- (Francis Bacon)
- Since no date of birth was entered for the patient, his age is null .
Adjective
(en adjective)- In proportion as we descend the social scale our snobbishness fastens on to mere nothings which are perhaps no more null than the distinctions observed by the aristocracy, but, being more obscure, more peculiar to the individual, take us more by surprise.