Noun

(uncountable) The state of being plural.

(ecclesiastical) The holding of multiple benefices.

* 1644 , (John Milton), Aeropagitica :

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.

(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]:

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.

(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]:

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.

(countable) A group of many entities: a large number.

A plurality of ideas were put forth at the meeting, most of which were rejected out of hand.

(countable) A group composed of more than one entity.

* 1989 , United States Patent 5065364, abstract:

The array is organized into a plurality of vertical (column) blocks.

(of spouses) polygamy.

Noun

(varieties)

The quality of being varied; diversity.

A specific variation of something.

A number of different things.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-01, author=Katie L. Burke, volume=101, issue=1, page=64, magazine=(American Scientist)

, title= Ecological Dependency , passage=In his first book since the 2008 essay collection Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature , David Quammen looks at the natural world from yet another angle: the search for the next human pandemic, what epidemiologists call “the next big one.” His quest leads him around the world to study a variety of suspect zoonoses—animal-hosted pathogens that infect humans.}}

A state of constant change.

(taxonomy) A rank in a taxonomic classification, below species and subspecies.

(cybernetics) The total number of distinct states of a system.

(cybernetics) Logarithm of the base 2 of the total number of distinct states of a system.

(linguistics) A term used for a specific form of a language, neutral to whether that form is a dialect, accent, register, etc. and to its prestige level.

The class of all algebraic structures of a given signature satisfying a given set of identities.