minority
♦♦ mi|nor|ity /mɪn'ɒrɪti, AM -n'ɔːr-/ (minorities)
1 [N-SING] oft N of n
If you talk about a minority of people or things in a larger group, you are referring to a number of them that forms less than half of the larger group, usually much less than half.
Local authority nursery provision covers only a tiny minority of working mothers...
...minority shareholders.
≠ majority
[PHRASE] usu v-link PHR
If people are in a minority or in the minority, they belong to a group of people or things that form less than half of a larger group.
Even in the 1960s, politically active students and academics were in a minority...
In the past conservatives have been in the minority.
2 [N-COUNT]
A minority is a group of people of the same race, culture, or religion who live in a place where most of the people around them are of a different race, culture, or religion.
...the region's ethnic minorities...
1 [N-SING] oft N of n
If you talk about a minority of people or things in a larger group, you are referring to a number of them that forms less than half of the larger group, usually much less than half.
Local authority nursery provision covers only a tiny minority of working mothers...
...minority shareholders.
≠ majority
[PHRASE] usu v-link PHR
If people are in a minority or in the minority, they belong to a group of people or things that form less than half of a larger group.
Even in the 1960s, politically active students and academics were in a minority...
In the past conservatives have been in the minority.
2 [N-COUNT]
A minority is a group of people of the same race, culture, or religion who live in a place where most of the people around them are of a different race, culture, or religion.
...the region's ethnic minorities...