minorityn.adj.
/mʌɪˈnɒrᵻti/, /mᵻˈnɒrᵻti/, U.S. /məˈnɔrədi/, /maɪˈnɔrədi/ A. n.† 2. The condition or fact of being smaller, inferior, or subordinate in relation to something else; an instance of this. Obsolete.† 4. The number of votes cast for or by a minority party. Obsolete.
1. † b. In extended use. Obsolete.† c. The early part of a person's life; one's youth. Obsolete.
a. The period of a person's life prior to attaining full age; the state or fact of being a minor (see minor adj. 3). in minority (also †within minority): under age.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > child > [noun] > childhood > minority
nonage1400
less agec1436
minority1493
pupillarity1561
nonwit1571
pupilship1581
pupillage1590
pupil age1598
under-age1613
underagedness1648
infancy1658
leading-string1677
minorship1841
minorage1888
1493 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 236 Persounis..may at thair perfectioun of age mak reuocatioun..of thingis done preiudiciall to thame in thair minorities.
1526 in W. Fraser Lennox (1874) II. 226 The tym of our mynoryte, we beand of tendyr age.
1560 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 191 I will that my said brother xp'ofor ffenne [have] the gubernac'on and custodie of the said xls. a pece..duringe the minorities of the thre childeren.
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 43 Theseus..stale awaye Helen in hir minoritie, being nothing neere to consent to marye.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 587 When he [sc. Hercules] was a babe... Thus did he strangle Serpents in his Manus, Quoniam, he seemeth in minoritie, Ergo, I come with this Appologie. View more context for this quotation
a1623 H. Swinburne Treat. Spousals (1686) 27 By the same means..are those Spousals by them contracted in their Minority..resolved or turned into Matrimony.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. i. 7 I..being young, and within minority.
1642 T. Fuller Holy State v. xviii. 432 The minority of Princes ought not to lessen their Subjects reverence unto them.
1707 London Gaz. No. 4363/1 The Janisaries have..set his Nephew upon the Throne, who..is to act under the Direction of Four Visiers during his Minority.
1751 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 404 It is become the peculiarity of the House of Orange to have minorities.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia I. ii. ii. 174 She had now entered the last year of her minority.
1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits x. 173 A youth in England, emerging from his minority.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vi. §1. 265 The long minority of Henry the Sixth, who was a boy of nine months old at his father's death.
1885 Littell's Living Age 30 May 566/1 Three widows and one child, still in its minority, mourn in tearless sorrow round the suicide's bier.
1920 Act 10 & 11 George V c. 64 §2 A husband of full age,..whose wife is in minority, shall be her curator during her minority.
1997 G. Hosking Russia (1998) ii. i. 50 Ivan..convened a so-called ‘Council of Reconciliation’..to deal with the conflicts which had flared up during his minority.
ΚΠ
1605 R. F. Epist. in tr. F. Dedekind Schoole of Slovenrie sig. ❧iiiv In the minority of my grammar-schollership, I was induced..to vnmaske these Roman manners.
1611 J. Donne Anat. World sig. A7 When Stag, and Rauen, and the long liu'd tree..dyde in minoritee.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 160 An old booke in broken English, which crept into the world in the minoritie of Printing.
1632 tr. G. Bruele Praxis Medicinæ 59 This disease..doth sticke close to the patient, vnlesse it bee taken away by medicines in its minority.
1659 J. Milton Considerations touching Hirelings 104 For the magistrate..to make the church his meer ward, as alwaies in minoritie,..is neither just nor pious.
1744 E. Young Complaint: Night the Sixth 32 In this her dark Minority, how toils..The human soul?
1833 New-Eng. Mag. Sept. 205 It [sc. the English language] is now as mature as Greek or Latin... It is in its minority no longer.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > age > youth > [noun]
youthc897
youngheada1300
youngthc1330
juvent1377
juventy1377
first youtha1387
youthheada1400
joyfnesc1400
junessec1430
young daysa1464
juventudec1470
younga1475
youngness?1505
flower?1507
juventute1541
prime tide1549
spring1553
April1583
springtime1583
nonage1584
prime1584
flowering youth1586
primrose1590
greenc1595
dancing-days1599
primrose-time1606
leaping timea1616
salad daysa1616
minority1632
juvenency1656
coltagec1720
youdith1723
veal-bones1785
whelphood1847
colthood1865
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. ix. 415 Such a man can neither seduce his minority with ill examples, nor marre his waxen age with a false impression.
a1688 J. Bunyan Life & Death Mr. Badman To Rdr. The minority, flower, and seniority of his Age.
1728 R. Morris Ess. Anc. Archit. p. xix A Principle imbibed in Minority.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > [noun]
poornessa1382
povertya1387
bada1425
lessness?a1425
worsenessa1425
nethertyc1443
minority1533
badness1539
lesserness1540
evilness1547
meanness1556
punyship1581
inferiority1599
under1600
worserness1602
inferiorness1674
deteriority1692
baddishness1824
shoddiness1886
crumbiness1949
1533 T. More Answere Poysened Bk. i. xi. f. xxxviv The minorite and the obedience that the scrypture speketh of in Chryste, is all ment of his manhed.
?1592 Trag. Solyman & Perseda sig. G3 What art thou that pettie pigmie, That chalenged [printed chalneged] me at Rhodes: Whom I refusd to combat for his minoritie.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iii. vi. 117 There may, I confesse, from this narrow time of gestation ensue a minority, or smallnesse in the exclusion. View more context for this quotation
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Character ∠ Is the Sign of Minority.
3.
a. A group or subdivision whose views or actions distinguish it from the main body of people; (originally spec.) a party voting together against a majority in a deliberative assembly or electoral body. Also more generally (usually with the): the smaller number or part; a number which is less than half the whole number.Sometimes followed by of and a number indicating the size of the group, esp. in a minority of one. in the minority: belonging to or constituting the smaller group or number.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [noun] > minority
feweOE
minority1716
the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > a small part or proportion > the smaller part
minority1716
1716 J. Addison Freeholder No. 9. ⁋11 The Parliament of Great Britain, against whom you bring a stale accusation which has been used by every minority in the memory of man.
1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ Minority (lesser number).
1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VIII. xix. 66 To prevent your honours of the Majority and Minority from tearing the very flesh off your bones in contestation.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 186 In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority . View more context for this quotation
1809 S. T. Coleridge Friend 19 Oct. 157 The tone of men, who are conscious that they are in a Minority.
1828 T. B. Macaulay Hallam's Constit. Hist. in Edinb. Rev. Sept. 169 Conspiracies and insurrections in which small minorities are engaged.
1857 E. C. Gaskell Life C. Brontë I. viii. 167 She, a Tory and clergyman's daughter, was always in a minority of one in our house of violent Dissent and Radicalism.
1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 1004 The insufficiency of the mitral valve, which occurs in a minority of cases of exophthalmic goitre.
1903 R. D. Shaw Pauline Epist. ii. i. 86 Men of pure Gallic blood must in Paul's time have been greatly in the minority.
1941 ‘G. Orwell’ Lion & Unicorn 19 In England all the boasting and flag-wagging, the ‘Rule Britannia’ stuff, is done by small minorities.
1991 S. Gerrard in K. A. Stølen & M. Vaa Gender & Change in Developing Countries 235 They were always in the minority when it came to the vote.
2000 Daily Tel. 3 Mar. 19/8 If Britain keeps opposing this, it's going to end up being in a minority of one.
b. A small group of people differing from the rest of the community in ethnic origin, religion, language, etc.; (now sometimes more generally) any identifiable subgroup within a society, esp. one perceived as suffering from discrimination or from relative lack of status or power.Frequently with modifying adjective, as ethnic, national minority, etc.: for established compounds of this type see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > a company or body of persons > [noun] > other specific types of company
rabblement1536
rabble rout?1589
quorum1596
besorta1616
flying squadron1670
alliance1703
minority1837
umma1885
lads1888
minority group1919
flying squad1927
milieu1927
focus group1938
visible minority1940
enclave1945
1837 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Oct. 3 Though we go for the republican principle of the supremacy of the will of the majority, we acknowledge, in general, a strong sympathy with minorities, and consider that their rights have a high moral claim on the respect and justice of majorities.
1855 N. Amer. Rev. Jan. 171 The nucleus afforded by a vast and unappropriated country for the establishment and growth of political and religious minorities transplanted from ancient states and hierarchies.
1888 S. Moore tr. K. Marx & F. Engels Manifesto Communist Party i. 11 All previous movements were movements of minorities or in the interests of minorities.
1917 Times 28 Dec. 8/1 According to the declarations of..the quadruple alliance, protection of the right of minorities forms an essential component part of the constitutional right of peoples to self-determination.
1921 H. W. V. Temperley Hist. Peace Conf. Paris V. ii. 112 These treaties provide for the protection of racial, linguistic, or religious minorities included within the boundaries of the specified States.
1964 E. Huxley Back Street New Worlds 7 The various minorities who have settled in Britain..from the Jews who came mainly in the eighteen eighties, to the Pakistanis who are arriving today.
1994 Entrepreneur Dec. 88/2 By the year 2000, the U.S. population is expected to grow from 260 million to 275 million, with most of this spurt attributed to minorities.
c. U.S. A member of a minority group. Usually in plural.
ΚΠ
1951 Jrnl. Negro Educ. 20 330 There are also other factors operating against discrimination:..direct campaigns of some local civic groups to encourage the hiring of minorities especially in white-collar jobs.
1965 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 71 249 A white employer's taste for discrimination may lead him to hire Negroes, females, and other identifiable minorities only at a rate sufficiently below the going rate for white workers to offset the price he places upon his taste for discrimination [etc.].
1976 Time 20 Dec. 11/1 He was worried about the need for new young blood in Government, for more women and minorities.
1985 Albuquerque (New Mexico) Jrnl. 11 Dec. a3/3 During the past year, UNM hired six minorities and 21 women.
1996 F. Popcorn & L. Marigold Clicking ii. 62 Twice as many whites as minorities owned them [sc. computers].
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > expression of choice by some approved method > [noun] > taking of votes > counting of votes > votes by or for minority
minority1775
1775 E. Burke Speech Amer. Taxation 41 The minority did not reach to more than 39 or 40.
1788 T. Jefferson Let. 4 Dec. in Papers (1958) XIV. 328 The minorities in most of the accepting states have been very respectable.
B. adj. (chiefly attributive).
1. Of, belonging to, or constituting a minority; (also) appealing to a small or select group of people. Sometimes, of culture: serious, intellectual, highbrow (as opposed to mass: see mass n.2 Compounds 1a).In quot. 1775 the precise meaning is unclear. The allusion is perhaps to Robert Mackreth, a former waiter who was elected as an M.P. in 1774 (see Mod. Lang. Q. (1945) 6 421).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > intellectual superiority > [adjective]
intellectual1732
bluestocking1832
long-haired1842
intellectualist1857
high-browed1876
highbrow1884
intellectualistic1887
minority1930
egg-headed1957
eggheadish1963
1775 R. B. Sheridan Rivals ii. i I told Thomas that your Honour had already inlisted five disbanded chairmen, seven minority waiters, and thirteen billiard markers.
1860 Official Proc. Democratic National Convention: Charleston 68 Mr. Bidwell read resolutions of California concerning the slavery question, and explained his vote on the minority platform.
1874 Porcupine 31 Jan. 693/2 The city of London has already conceded a minority member.
1902 Daily Chron. 27 Feb. 5/1 He had to occupy the unusual position of being the minority-teller at the table.
1923 R. C. Brooks Polit. Parties & Electoral Problems vii. 106 Political theorists and adherents of minority parties frequently criticize the existing two-party system of the United States.
1930 F. R. Leavis (title) Mass civilization and minority culture.
1948 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Feb. 8/3 While splinter minorities may have a voice in the legislature, they cannot extend that voice beyond their own minority base.
1960 Housewife Apr. 10/2 The Editor..considers very few subjects indeed too ‘minority’ or too apparently trivial to be given a sensible airing.
1967 Federal Reporter 2nd Ser. 367 535/1 That is..a minority ruling and is founded almost solely upon the rationale of Park & Tilford.
1983 Classical Mus. Nov. 5/4 He shared Banks's view about the probability of damaging cuts, and that ‘minority arts’ would start to shrink.
1990 L. Cockcroft Africa's Way (BNC) 137 The ANC would..be a minority party relying heavily on local support in the Southern Province.
1995 Guardian 16 Feb. i. 12/1 One of two liberal minority members on the five-member school board.
2. That forms a minority in a community, nation, etc.; frequently in minority group. Also: relating or belonging to such a minority (see sense A. 3b).
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > a company or body of persons > [noun] > other specific types of company
rabblement1536
rabble rout?1589
quorum1596
besorta1616
flying squadron1670
alliance1703
minority1837
umma1885
lads1888
minority group1919
flying squad1927
milieu1927
focus group1938
visible minority1940
enclave1945
society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > a company or body of persons > [noun] > other specific types of company > member of
minority group1919
minority man1926
1919 Polit. Sci. Q. 34 135 There are within the bounds of the new Poland four or five minority peoples, who dislike the Poles and are disliked by them.
1931 Quest Apr. 4/2 One sees this minority attitude all the way from the Suffering Servant of Isaiah to the Messianism of the Poles of a century ago.
1932 D. Young Amer. Minority Peoples xiii. 460 The culture of the minority group is never completely lost even when no formal effort is made to preserve some of its features.
1959 R. MacFarquar in New Leader (U.S.) 8 June 19/3 Selected members of minority nationalities are given intensive courses in Marxist Leninist theory and Chinese aims and policies.
1970 Washington Post 30 Sept. B. 14/4 A hard-hat worker who loses his job to a minority worker.
1973 Black Panther 3 Mar. 13/3 In civil rights, aid to minority business enterprises is stressed, rather than to the minority poor.
1990 Mirabelle May 64/2 One city official..believes that the saturation point for working and middle-class minority families adopting is fast approaching.
Compounds
minority carrier n. Electronics a charge carrier of the kind carrying the smaller proportion of the electric current in a semiconducting material (i.e. an electron in p-type material, a hole in n-type material); cf. majority carrier n. at majority n.1 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > solid state physics > semiconductivity > [noun] > carrier of charges
carrier1939
majority carrier1951
minority carrier1951
1951 Physical Rev. 83 151/2 The density of minority carriers is much smaller than the density of majority carriers in each region.
1969 J. J. Sparkes Transistor Switching i. 3 The current from one junction to the other is carried by minority carriers.
1987 J. Millman & A. Grabel Microelectronics (ed. 2) i. 33 In a p-type material, the holes are the majority carriers and the electrons are the minority carriers.
minority debt n. a debt incurred by a person while under age.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > insolvency > indebtedness > [noun] > a debt > other types of debt
crown debt1641
debt of honour1646
oblata1658
judgment debt1702
bond-debt1707
rumple1746
contingent liability1798
overdraft1812
current liability1832
receivable1836
minority debt1897
negative equity1946
eligible liability1971
1897 Daily News 13 May 8/5 The half-crown cigars were also minority debts?
1905 Daily Chron. 24 June 6/6 He has raised £45,000..out of which he paid his minority debts.
minority government n. Politics (a) a government without an overall voting majority; (b) government by a minority; a government drawn from and elected by a minority (sense A. 3b).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > [noun] > other types of government
regency1643
myriarchy1650
responsible government1782
charter-government1796
co-government1834
minority government1859
internationalism1879
minority rule1886
Labour government1892
provisional government1916
paepae1937
1859 H. Rich Govt. by Minority 27 Whatever may have been the causes or the excuses..for the formation of the present anomalous minority Government, there are apparently none for its continuance.
1937 K. B. Smellie Hundred Years Eng. Govt. ix. 366 The Prime Minister..made it clear that as a minority Government he would resign only as a direct vote of no confidence.
1956 Star (Johannesburg) 23 Feb. 12/7 South Africa..has heard much sanctimonious talk of the ‘volkswil’ from members of a minority government.
1991 Internat. Jrnl. Refugee Law 3 ii. 196 ‘Freedom fighters’..are eligible for refugee status..if their struggle is against a colonial or white minority government.
1992 Independent 7 Apr. 1/2 John Major said yesterday that he was alarmed by the prospect of minority government.
minority interest n. Business a significant share held in a subsidiary company by a group of shareholders other than the holding company.
ΚΠ
1886 Cent. Mag. Aug. 649/1 This factory lets its employees buy, in small installments, a minority interest in its stock.
1901 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 15 521 In spite of severe pressure from the minority interest, no dividends were paid for ten years.
1992 Canad. Dimension July–Aug. 28/2 Asper acquired a minority interest in TV3 New Zealand.
minority language n. a language spoken by a minority group, if different from that of the majority.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > a language > [noun] > minority or private language
private language1555
minority language1924
1924 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 18 654 The various concessions made by the treaties of 1919–20 in respect to the free use of the minority language in private or public relations, the maintenance of [etc.].
1987 Eng. Today July 38/1 The ELA would not outlaw minority-language newspapers or minority-language schools.
Minority Leader n. U.S. Politics the official spokesman of the minority party in the House of Congress.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > other national governing or legislative bodies > [noun] > in U.S.A. > member of
Member of Congress1774
Congressman1780
state senator1800
M.C.1832
freshman1892
majority leader1909
Minority Leader1909
congressperson1972
1909 P. Reinsch Reading on Amer. Federal Govt. vii. 266 The minority leader, on behalf of the Democratic minority, demanded the enactment of certain legislation.
1969 J. K. Galbraith Ambassador's Jrnl. xxiv. 550 Minority Leader, United States Senate.
1994 Amer. Spectator Apr. 20/2 House minority leader Bob Michel revealed..how much he had changed since coming to Washington.
minority man n. [after Russian men′ševik Menshevik n.] British colloquial (now rare) a person who is in a political minority, spec. a Menshevik.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > a company or body of persons > [noun] > other specific types of company > member of
minority group1919
minority man1926
1926 Contemp. Rev. Sept. 274 He was an outsider—a ‘menshevik’ (the ‘minority’ man).
1927 Observer 1 May 17/1 It was a curious moment..to choose for legislation calculated..to revive the power of ‘minority men’ and direct actionists in Britain.
minority movement n. a movement to secure justice or proper representation for minorities; spec. (in full National Minority Movement) a British communist group formed in 1924 (now historical).
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > association for a common purpose > [noun] > group associated for common purpose
covinc1330
lyancec1380
university?1473
army1540
band1557
union1603
coalescence1609
confederation1621
associationa1658
confederacy1681
federation1791
brigade1806
united front1807
class movement1839
company1839
paction1877
combine1889
protest movement1898
protest group1920
minority movement1923
we1926
power1966
1923 Workers' Weekly 5 Oct. 3/3 The minority movement within the miners is getting a firm hold in South Wales.
1924 Worker 30 Aug. 4/3 The National Minority Movement has for its aims:—1. To organise the working masses of Great Britain for..the establishment of the Socialist Commonwealth. 2. [etc.].
1971 Dict. National Biogr. 1951–60 822/2 In 1924 he became secretary of the National Minority Movement.
minority report n. a separate report presented by members of a committee or other body who are unable to agree with the majority.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > reporting > [noun] > a report > particular form
storya1616
version1788
minority report1833
1833 Reg. Deb. Congress U.S. 2 Mar. 1927 A new set of majority and minority reports are to be launched upon the public.
1958 Everyman's Encycl. XII. 532/2 With Sidney Webb..she [sc. Beatrice Webb] issued the minority report which initiated the Socialist agitation for the reform of the old Poor Law.
1990 S. S. Teffer Raising Stones ii. ii. 242 Damzel..insisted upon making a minority report to the Circle of Scrutators.
minority rights n. rights granted to minorities to act as a safeguard of their interests and help prevent discrimination against them by the majority.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal right > [noun] > civil rights > rights safeguarding minority
minority rights1906
1906 Polit. Sci. Q. 21 25 That democracy which cherishes individual liberty, believes in minority rights and desires the highest possible differentiation and perfection of individual life.
1924 R. W. Seton-Watson New Slovakia vi. 104 Such international opinion as regards the ‘Minority rights’ provided for by the Peace Treaties, as a moral obligation assumed by all members of the League of Nations.
1992 Economist 26 Dec. 73/3 The world..was torn by micro-nationalism..as people fought for minority rights, ethnic identity, religious and social freedom.
minority rule n. = minority government n.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > [noun] > other types of government
regency1643
myriarchy1650
responsible government1782
charter-government1796
co-government1834
minority government1859
internationalism1879
minority rule1886
Labour government1892
provisional government1916
paepae1937
1886 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 134 Will not a toleration of a minority-rule debauch the public conscience, bring the rule of the majority into contempt, and thus self-government be lost?
1905 Polit. Sci. Q. 20 205 The Australian constitution still bears traces of the United States system of curbing and restriction and minority rule.
1987 Frontline (Johannesburg) May 10 Feeling no need for..assurances of the imminent demise of minority rule, I turn homeward.
1990 B. Purdie Polit. in Streets (BNC) 190 Unless the growing spirit of the movement could be harnessed coherently, mob rule would replace Unionist minority rule.
1992 Christian Sci. Monitor 8 Jan. 4/1 The recent Convention for a Democratic South Africa..at which the government officially began negotiating the end of white minority rule.
minority shareholder n. Business a shareholder with a minority interest in a company.
ΚΠ
1867 N. Amer. Rev. Apr. 454 Hagar..being of a different mould from the other minority shareholders, filed a bill in the Court of Chancery.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 20 Jan. 10/4 He will be a minority shareholder with the control of the undertaking absolutely in the hands of the American Company.
2000 Herald (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 21 June DNO was very much a minority shareholder in a consortium which included British Gas and Texaco.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1493