majority rule
noun
Simple meaning
The doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
muhjawruhtihroolSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
məˈdʒɔɹətɪˈɹul
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group
A decision rule whereby the decisions of the numerical majority of a group will be binding on the whole group, its parts, and each member.
The social choice function that selects the Condorcet winner if one exists, and otherwise makes no decision.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group
Used this way, majority rule is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is about measurement, so it is used where accuracy is the point.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
- Academic writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.