minority
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /maɪˈnɒɹ.ɪ.ti/
ipa: /mɪˈnɒɹ.ɪ.ti/
ipa: /maɪˈnɔɹ.ɪ.ti/
ipa: /mɪˈnɔɹ.ɪ.ti/
ipa: /maɪˈnɔɹ.ə.ti/
ipa: /maɪˈnɑɹ.ɪ.ti/
ipa: /mɪˈnɑɹ.ɪ.ti/
ipa: /mɑɪˈnɔɹ.ə.ti/
note: Indic
ipa: /majˈnɔrɪʈi/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈmajnərɪʈi/
rhymes: -ɒɹɪti
Forms: form: minorities
Etymology: From Middle French minorité, and its source Late Latin minōritās, from Latin minor. Morphologically minor + -ity.
Senses: examples: text: And lest any man should think her intent was to unnestle ill neighbours, and not to aid good neighbours, or that she was readier to restore what was invaded by others than to render what was in her own hands; see if the time provided not a new occasion afterwards, when through their own division, without the intermise of strangers, her forces were again sought and required; she forsook them not, prevailed so far as to be possessed of the castle of Edinburgh, the principal strength of that kingdom, with peace, incontinently, without cunctations or cavillations, the preambles of a wavering faith, she rendered with all honour and security; and his person to safe and faithful hands; and so ever after during his minority continued his principal guardian and protector.
ref: a. 1603, Francis Bacon, Discourse in the Praise of Queen Elizabeth:
text: She also played a key role as dowager-regent during the minority of her son.
ref: 2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 117:
synonyms: childhood
antonyms: adulthood
glosses: The state of being a minor; youth, the period of a person's life prior to reaching adulthood.
examples: text: Most people agreed, but a sizable minority were upset by the decision.
text: The case is the latest chapter in a decade-long struggle by the nation's elite minority to crush the powerful political machine founded by Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in another coup in 2006.
ref: 2017 August 25, “Arrest threat as Yingluck Shinawatra misses verdict”, in Al Jazeera:
antonyms: majority
glosses: Any subgroup that does not form a numerical majority.
examples: text: The company claims it has hired several minorities since the complaint was lodged.
glosses: A member of an ethnic minority.
examples: text: But we have seen that one important difference between women and other minorities is that women's attitudes and self-conceptions are conditioned more largely by interaction with both minority and dominant group members
ref: 1951 October, Helen Mayer Hacker, “Women as Minority Group”, in Howard W. Odum, Katherine Jocher, editors, Social Forces, volume 30, number 1, Williams & Wilkins, →DOI, page 63:
topics: human-sciences
sciences
social-science
sociology
glosses: A group of people seen as distinct who are subordinated and discriminated against in a society.
glosses: A Muslim.
Derived terms: antiminority
ethnic minority
gender minority
invisible minority
majority-minority
minoritarian
minoritary
minoritize
minority cabinet
minority council
minority dominance
minority domination
minority government
minority group
minorityhood
minority language
minority leader
minority report
minority rule
model minority
nonminority
sexual minority
subminority
superminority
visible minority
vocal minority
Related terms: minor