superminorities

Noun

superminority (plural superminorities)

1. A voting block which, although it has less than 50% of the vote, has sufficient numbers to prevent any other group from forming a supermajority.
   • A President and a “superminority" of Congress—41 percent of one house—in the exercise of the constitutional mandate to “ensure” that outlays do not exceed receipts, might kill or maim any program they did not like—social security, environmental, defense—so long as the President could hold the...1982, Rights of Employed Inventors
2. (broadly) A minority group that wields disproportionate power.
   • This is an escalating process until we have a highly privileged superminority with a vested interest in increasing its numbers and its power. At that point the people have become servants of the bureaucracy, rather than the bureaucracy being a service function of the government, working for the...1979, Rodney Petersen, The philosophy of a peasant, page 244
3. An ethnic minority group that is seen as having outstanding abilities.
   • Although the idea that they are a superminority is a new one, the increase in Asian- American activism is the result of years of discrimination.1987, Newsweek - Volume 109, Issues 18-26, page 12
4. A member of a minority group who has extraordinary abilities, often one who is identified as a leader and representative of the entire ethnic group.
   • White males find it inherently impossible to believe that a woman or minority can be competent and can be qualified. It's a very, very difficult thing. I have seen people who appeared to be genuinely sincere struggling with this, and they find it very, very difficult to conceive of women and...1976, Affirmative Action in Employment in Higher Education
5. A large minority group that comprises a significant percentage of the population or most of the minority population.
   • And out of the 326 village corporation shareholders, we only make up 37, so again, we are a superminority of our own corporation, so whatever the corporation decides to do, we have to go along with it because we don't have the votes to overpower the majority.1999, United States Congress. House Committee on Resources, HR 2547, to provide for the conveyance of land interests to Chugach Alaska Corporation to fulfill the intent, purpose, and promise of the...
6. Multiple minority groups, seen as a single coalition or group.
   • There is the assumption, underlying this problem with minorities, that all minorities will get together and form some form of superminority constituency—otherwise they wouldn't be all that effective— and I don't see any validity to that.1977, Martia Diamond., The Electoral College and The American Idea of Democracy

See all 7 meanings of superminority