Plurality
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The state of being plural. uncountable
"Nominal plurality in Basque is originally exclusively marked on definite determiners and not on nouns."
- 2 (in an election with more than 2 options) the number of votes for the candidate or party receiving the greatest number (but less than half of the votes) wordnet
- 3 The holding of multiple benefices. countable, uncountable
"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."
- 4 a large indefinite quantity wordnet
- 5 A state of being numerous. countable
Show 8 more definitions
- 6 the state of being plural wordnet
- 7 A number or part of a whole which is greater than any other number or part, but not necessarily a majority. countable
- 8 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. countable
"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."
- 9 A margin by which a number exceeds another number, especially of votes. countable
"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."
- 10 A group of many entities: a large number. countable
"A plurality of ideas were put forth at the meeting, most of which were rejected out of hand."
- 11 A group composed of more than one entity. countable
"The array is organized into a plurality of vertical (column) blocks."
- 12 Polygamy. countable, uncountable
- 13 Synonym of multiplicity (“the condition whereby a person displays or experiences multiple distinct personalities or selves in one body”). countable, uncountable
"In this paper I argue that hearing voices experiences and plurality are part of a broad, rich, and complex spectrum of human experience, […]"
Example
More examples"While there is a plurality of Tatoeba sentences in English, it is encouraging that Esperanto, Italian, German, Turkish, Russian, French and Spanish already have respectable numbers of sentences as well."
Etymology
From plural + -ity, from Middle English pluralite, from Old French pluralité (“multitude, state of being plural”), from Latin plūrālitās.
Related phrases
More for "plurality"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.