supermajority

Etymology

From super- (“above, greater than”) + majority.

noun

  1. (chiefly Canada, US) A majority of the items being counted that reaches some preset threshold significantly greater than 50 percent, such as two thirds.
    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. April 2, 1915, “‘Caisson Disease’ in a Severe Form”, in Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, page 9, column 2
    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. 2013-11-30, Ross Ramsey, “Supermajority Poses Dilemma for Both Parties”, 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. 2019-03-05, Tim Wu, “The Oppression of the Supermajority”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    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. 2021-04-15, Libby Brooks, “Could Salmond’s ‘Supermajority’ Talk Harm the Scottish Independence Cause?”, in The Guardian, London

Attribution / Disclaimer All definitions come directly from Wiktionary using the Wiktextract library. We do not edit or curate the definitions for any words, if you feel the definition listed is incorrect or offensive please suggest modifications directly to the source (wiktionary/supermajority), any changes made to the source will update on this page periodically.