[Ads-l] majority; plurality

[Mark Mandel]

When there are only two candidates, or in this case two subgroups,
"majority" and "plurality" are synonymous.

Mark

On Apr 18, 2016 9:45 PM, "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ...
> Just checked to see if the 'super-majority' sense is in the OED--it's not
(at least not without a clarifying adjective), although the loose use of
"majority" to mean 'plurality' or 'significant proportion' is, (3a).  My
favorite lemma is a use with which I was previously unfamiliar and which is
evidently obsolete [apparently a calque of Lat. "ad plures"]:
>
> 3c. "the majority": the dead. Chiefly in phrases "to join the majority"
and "to go/pass over to the majority": to die. Obs.

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