Majority means more than half of a group or total. If your class has 24 students and 13 vote to have recess outside while 11 vote to stay inside, the majority wants to go outside. In an election with 100 votes, a candidate needs at least 51 to win a majority.

The word appears constantly in democratic decisions. When a jury reaches a verdict, they usually need a majority to agree (or sometimes everyone, which is called unanimity). When Congress passes a law, it needs a majority of votes in both the House and Senate. Sports leagues often require a majority of team owners to approve major rule changes.

A majority is different from a plurality. If three candidates run for class president and get 12, 10, and 8 votes, the winner has a plurality (the most votes) but not a majority (more than half of the 30 total votes). Some elections require a majority to win, which might mean holding a runoff between the top two candidates.

You'll also hear “the majority of” used more loosely to mean “most”: The majority of students finished the test early. This means most students, even if no one counted to verify it was exactly more than 50%.

The opposite of majority is minority, meaning less than half.