minority (redirected from minorities)

The state or condition of a minor; infancy. Opposite of majority. The smaller number of votes of a deliberative assembly; opposed to majority. In context of the Constitution's guarantee of Equal Protection, minority does not have merely numerical denotation but refers to identifiable and specially disadvantaged groups such as those based on race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin.

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minority n. 1) in voting, a side with less than half the votes. 2) a term for people in a predominantly Caucasian country who are not Caucasian, including African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, indigenous Americans (Indians) and other people supposedly "of color," despite the irony that the majority of the world's population is not Caucasian. Sometimes the term is employed to include women and homosexuals. "Minority" carries with it a certain patronizing tone even when used to assert rights of peoples who have been discriminated against, either socially or by law. 3) The period of life under legal age. (See: majority, minor, legal age)

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minority (Infancy), noun childhood, immaturity, infant status, legal immaturity, legal incapacity, legal incompetence, nonage, period of being under legal age, period of being under statutory age, puerility, youth, youthfulness
Associated concepts: age of minority, incapacity to contract, voidable contracts
Foreign phrases: Haeres minor uno et viginti annis non reepondebit, nisi in casu dotis.A minor heir under twentyyne years of age is not answerable, except in the matter of dower. Minor ante tempus agere non potest in casu proorietatis nec etiam convenire. A minor under age cannot act in a case of property.

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minority (Outnumbered group), noun insignificant number, lesser group, lesser part, the outvoted, paltry few, peripheral group, powerless group, secondary group, small group, small number, small percentage, small proportion, small quantity, smaller group, smaller part, subordinate group, subsidiary group, uninfluential group, weak group
Associated concepts: minority group, minority member, miiority party, minority stockholders

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See also: adolescence, nonage, paucity

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MINORITY. The state or condition of a minor; infancy. In another sense, it signifies the lesser number of votes of a deliberative assembly; opposed to majority. (q.v.)