pluralities

Noun

plurality (countable and uncountable, plural pluralities)

1. (uncountable) The state of being plural.
   • Nominal plurality in Basque is originally exclusively marked on definite determiners and not on nouns.2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 333
2. The holding of multiple benefices.
   • 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.1644, John Milton, Areopagitica

   Synonyms:

   pluralism

3. (countable) A state of being numerous.

   Synonyms:

   multiplicity

4. (countable) A number or part of a whole which is greater than any other number or part, but not necessarily a majority.
   • “America will soon belong to the men and women … who can comfortably walk into a room and accept with real comfort the sensation that … there are no real majorities, only pluralities and coalitions.2012 November 9, Josh Levs, “The New America: What the election teaches us about ourselves”, in CNN, archived from the original on 06 Dec 2022
5. (countable) 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.
   • 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.1977 September 8, "Crime against clarity", editorial, Bangor Daily News, page 14 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=818zAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TiMIAAAAIBAJ&pg=1343,2352985

   Synonyms:

   relative majority

6. (countable) A margin by which a number exceeds another number, especially of votes.
   • 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.1948 December 10, “President Race Ignored by 683,382 Voters”, in The Deseret News, page A-2

See all 10 meanings of plurality