lion's share
Syllables: li·on's shareUK/ˈlaɪ.əns ʃɛə/US/ˈlaɪ.ənz ʃɛ(ə)ɹ/
lion's share noun: the majority; a large or generous portion.
Noun
the lion's share (plural lion's shares or lions' shares)
- The majority; a large or generous portion.
- They got a large donation, but the lion’s share of the money went straight into paying off debt.
- In place of dividing the merit of the discovery between the Englishman and the Scotchman, and giving the lion's share to my countryman, I have given the whole merit of the discovery to [Henry] Cavendish the Englishman, and have reserved only for [James] Watt the Scotchman, the merit of the previous...1845 August 8, David Brewster, “XXIX. Observations Connected with the Discovery of the Composition of Water. By Sir David Brewster, K.H., F.R.S., and V.P.R.S. Edin.”, in David Brewster, Richard...
- Synonyms:
- leonine share
lion's share meaning in Telugu, Arabic and Vietnamese
lion's share in Telugu
- the majority; a large or generous portion
- సింహభాగం siṁhabhāgaṁ
lion's share in Arabic
- the majority; a large or generous portion
- حِصَّةُ الأَسَد ḥiṣṣatu l-ʔasad
lion's share in Vietnamese
- the majority; a large or generous portion
- phần lớn
Examples of lion's share in a sentence
- She voluntarily surrendered all claim to the lion's share of the prize, though she certainly did the lion's share of the work, and bore the lion's share of the expense.1873 February 15, “Notes of the Week”, in The Japan Weekly Mail. A Political, Commercial, and Literary Journal, volume IV, number 7...
- The masses always be poor when a few kings and nobles hoard such enormous lion's shares.1887, Lee Meriwether, “Appendix”, in A Tramp Trip: How to See Europe on Fifty Cents a Day, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, […]...
- You would have the lion's share of everything.1916, Arnold Bennett, “In the Universe”, in The Lion’s Share, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC, page 346:
- We must add, however, that it was usually those who had collected the lion's shares of the points who made such suggestions.1970, Richard Christie, Florence Geis, “The Ten Dollar Game”, in Studies in Machiavellianism (Social Psychology), New York, N.Y.; London...
Synonyms of lion's share
Forms of lion's share
| plural | lion's shares |
|---|---|
| plural | lions' shares |
Origin of lion's share
From Aesop’s fable The Lion's Share, in which a lion claims the full amount of the spoil after hunting with a number of other beasts. In one version of the fable, the lion claims three-quarters of the kill rather than the whole, leaving the three other animals to fight over the remainder.
Questions about lion's share
- What does lion's share mean?
- Lion's share means the majority; a large or generous portion.
- What is lion's share in Telugu?
- Lion's share in Telugu is సింహభాగం (siṁhabhāgaṁ). See Lion's share meaning in Telugu.
- How do you use lion's share in a sentence?
- She voluntarily surrendered all claim to the lion's share of the prize, though she certainly did the lion's share of the work, and bore the lion's share of the expense.
- What part of speech is lion's share?
- Lion's share is a noun.
- How do you pronounce lion's share?
- Lion's share is pronounced /ˈlaɪ.əns ʃɛə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lion's share?
- The plural of lion's share is lion's shares.
Words near lion's share in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lion's share (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-lion's share.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lion's share.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lion%27s_share. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.