plurality

plurality
/plursladiy/ The excess of the votes cast for one candidate over those cast for any other. Where there are only two candidates, he who receives the greater number of the votes cast is said to have a majority; when there are more than two competitors for the same office, the person who receives the greatest number of votes has a plurality, but he has not a majority unless he receives a greater number of votes than those cast for all his competitors combined, or, in other words, more than one-half of the total number of votes cast. A plurality normally refers to the state of being numerous; a large number or quantity; while it may perhaps mean two, it embraces any number in excess of two. Technograph Printed Circuits, Limited v. Bendix Aviation Corp., D.C.Md., 218 F.Supp. 1, 52.
An opinion of an appellate court in which more justices join than in any concurring opinion (though not a majority of the court) is a plurality opinion as distinguished from a majority opinion in which a larger number of the justices on the panel join than not

Black's law dictionary. . 1990.

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  • Plurality — Plu*ral i*ty, n.; pl. {pluralities}. [L. pluralitas: cf. F. pluralit[ e].] 1. The state of being plural, or consisting of more than one; a number consisting of two or more of the same kind; as, a plurality of worlds; the plurality of a verb.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • plurality — plu·ral·i·ty /plu̇ ra lə tē/ n pl ties: an amount or group (as of votes) that is greater than any other amount or group within a total but that is not more than half; esp: a group of justices on an appeals court who do not form a majority but… …   Law dictionary

  • Plurality — can refer to the following:* Plural, in linguistics * Plurality (voting), a less than the majority number of votes * Plurality voting system, also called first past the post * Plurality (church governance) * Plurality (company), Israeli startup * …   Wikipedia

  • plurality — [ploo ral′ə tē] n. pl. pluralities [ME pluralite < MFr pluralité < LL pluralitas] 1. the condition of being plural or numerous 2. a great number; multitude 3. a) the holding of two or more church benefices at the same time b) any of the… …   English World dictionary

  • plurality — late 14c., “state of being plural,” from O.Fr. pluralite (14c.), from L.L. pluralitas, from pluralis (see PLURAL (Cf. plural)). Meaning “fact of there being many, multitude” is from mid 15c. Church sense of “holding of two or more… …   Etymology dictionary

  • plurality — *majority …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • plurality — [n] large part of a group advantage, bulk, greater part, lead, majority, mass, most, multiplicity, nearly all, numerousness, preponderance, profusion, variety; concepts 382,829 Ant. minority …   New thesaurus

  • plurality — ► NOUN (pl. pluralities) 1) the fact or state of being plural. 2) a large number of people or things. 3) US the number of votes cast for a candidate who receives more than any other but does not receive an absolute majority …   English terms dictionary

  • plurality — [[t]plʊəræ̱lɪti[/t]] pluralities 1) QUANT PL If there is a plurality of things, a number of them exist. [FORMAL] Federalism implies a plurality of political authorities, each with its own powers. 2) QUANT PL If a candidate, political party, or… …   English dictionary

  • plurality — plu|ral|i|ty [pluˈrælıti] n plural pluralities 1.) [C usually singular] formal a large number of different things plurality of ▪ the plurality of factors affecting the election 2.) [U and C] especially AmE technical if one person or party… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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