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View definitions for minority

minority

noun as in a group differing from the majority

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Example Sentences

The hope is Garrison can help Austin improve these and other issues, as the Pentagon needs to lift qualified minorities to more positions of power and keep extremists out of uniform.

From Vox

The minority of Republicans who think otherwise might survive the next round of primaries, but they show no ability to move the 88 to 95 percent of the party out.

While I think that is not wrong, I also think that the line for a small minority of the GOP has gotten brighter.

Although it is still too early to know whether these steps will improve lives in minority communities, they represent one effort to tackle a long-standing problem around the globe.

This means that far fewer older adults from under-resourced racial and ethnic minority communities have been able to make appointments.

Latinos, the fastest growing minority group in America, are even more underrepresented in Congress.

For my friend, a small minority of JSwipe matches materialized into conversations, and none have materialized into dates.

The two major complaints minority communities have against the police seem at first glance paradoxical.

Veterans are a small minority of the population, as well, serving the greater whole.

There, many minority parents supported Tom Torklarson, who favored the education reform agenda.

While the majority pulled in one way there was an active minority that wished the Nana to set up an independent kingdom.

Though that party may be a minority of the faithful few, the members are enough to continue the organization.

In regard to this question of economic condition the Minority Report took a more modest view.

The Americans had some great British leaders on their side, but they were definitely in the minority.

But the members who were disposed to let him have even half as many troops as he thought necessary were a minority.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is another word for minority?

The word minority is used in both general and more specific ways.

Generally speaking, it refers to the smaller portion of a total—the one that’s less than half. In the context of voting, it means the same thing, and can refer to the amount of votes or to the group of voters.

In the general context of groups of people, minority is used in reference to the nonmajority portion of the wider group. This is how the word is used in the phrase in the minority, I wanted to have the party after work, but I was in the minority.

In demographics, minority usually refers to the smaller portion of a wider population as divided by some characteristic, such as age or religion. Such a group might be called a minority group. The word minority has also commonly been used in more specific terms, like racial minority or ethnic minority.

Indeed, in this context, use of the word minority is especially associated with the concept of race and racial identity—particularly in places where people with darker skin colors constitute a smaller part of the population than those who are considered white. Historically, the word has been applied in the U.S. and other places to people of color. However, this isn’t always accurate in terms of population percentage, and this use of the word is also often criticized for other reasons. See the next section for an explanation of why minority is now often avoided in this context in favor of other terms.

What is a better word for minority?

In the context of racial and ethnic identity, it is now widely recommended that the word minority (and phrases that include it) should be avoided and replaced with more accurate and precise terms. This is based on a number of factors. First, the term is often inaccurate as far as population percentage. In addition, many argue that referring to such groups collectively as minorities functions to reduce their identity to this status. In this way, the implications of the word can reinforce power imbalances that are consequences of systemic racism—not simply of one group being outnumbered by another.

The word minority is often used in a way that’s meant to imply a status not only as the smaller group in a population, but also as a group that is and has been oppressed, discriminated against, and marginalized by the majority group, especially on a systemic (structural) level. (The related verb minoritize means to make a person or group subordinate in status to a more dominant group or its members.)

Terms that are sometimes recommended as more appropriate include some that are used to emphasize such circumstances, such as marginalized group (which suggests a lack of a power balance with the dominant group) and underrepresented group (which suggests a lack of representation in a certain context, such as a workforce).

However, there is often disagreement about whether such terms are appropriate or accurate. For example, inherently negative words like marginalized and underrepresented are sometimes seen as limiting and stigmatizing in the same way that the word minority is often seen to be. On the other hand, some believe it’s important to highlight such circumstances, especially in discussions of how to change them.

Usually, the best way to refer to a particular group when one of the identifying characteristics of its members is relevant is to be as specific and straightforward as possible. For example, people of color may be the appropriate term in some contexts, but not others, particularly when something more specific is meant, such as Black women.

What is the opposite (antonym) of minority?

In all contexts, the word minority is often used in contrast with majority (the greater portion—the part that constitutes more than half).

In the context of groups of people, the word majority is also used, but the minority group is sometimes contrasted with the dominant group or the privileged group.

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On this page you'll find 26 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to minority, such as: opposition, less than half, splinter group, the few, the outnumbered, and the outvoted.

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

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