supermajority
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From super- (“above, greater than”) + majority.
Pronunciation
Noun
supermajority (plural supermajorities)
- (chiefly Canada, US) A majority of the items being counted that reaches some preset threshold significantly greater than 50 percent, such as two thirds.
- Synonym: (chiefly UK) qualified majority
- 1915 April 2, “‘Caisson Disease’ in a Severe Form”, in Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, page 9, column 2:
- It was in order to exclude not water, but the light of day, that the Roblin Government kept its super-majority on the Public Accounts Committee working under such heavy pressure, with two foremen on the job, Taylor and Coldwell, who kept them so hard at it that the Liberals were prevented from getting at the full facts of the Kelly work on the new Parliament buildings and the Roblin Government work on the Provincial Treasury in connection with Kelly.
- 2013 November 30, Ross Ramsey, “Supermajority Poses Dilemma for Both Parties”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- The Texas Senate operates on a supermajority, too. Under ordinary circumstances, it takes approval from two-thirds of the 31 senators to bring a bill to the floor for debate.
- 2019 March 5, Tim Wu, “The Oppression of the Supermajority”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- The defining political fact of our time is not polarization. It’s the inability of even large bipartisan majorities to get what they want on issues like these. Call it the oppression of the supermajority.
- 2021 April 15, Libby Brooks, “Could Salmond’s ‘Supermajority’ Talk Harm the Scottish Independence Cause?”, in The Guardian, London:
- Launching his new political party, Alba, he [Alex Salmond] claimed he could help secure a “supermajority” for independence in the next Scottish parliament, which would significantly weaken Westminster’s opposition to a second independence referendum.
Coordinate terms
Related terms
Collocations
Nouns often modifying "supermajority"
Adjectives often used with "supermajority"
Translations
majority that reaches a preset threshold level
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References
- “supermajority, n.” under “super-, prefix”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2022.
Further reading
- “supermajority”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “supermajority”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “supermajority”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
- “supermajority”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “supermajority” (US) / “supermajority” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.