From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishminoritymi‧nor‧i‧ty /maɪˈnɒrəti $ məˈnɔː-, məˈnɑː-/ ●●● S3 W2 AWL noun (plural minorities) 1 [singular]FEW/NOT MANY a small group of people or things within a much larger group OPP majority Gaelic is still spoken in Ireland by a minority.minority of Only a minority of people supported these new laws.small/tiny/substantial/significant minority Gay men are a small but significant minority.minority report (=a report by a minority of a group who do not agree with the others)GRAMMAR: Singular or plural verb?• In this meaning, minority is usually followed by a singular verb: A small minority refuses to cooperate.• In British English, you can also use a plural verb: A small minority refuse to cooperate.2 [countable usually plural] a) SSRa group of people of a different race, religion etc from most other people in that country People from ethnic minorities often face prejudice. the very large Russian minorities in Ukraine and Moldova children from minority groups the teaching of minority languages in schoolsminority leader/businessman/student etc American English a school with a high proportion of minority students b) American EnglishSSR someone who belongs to a group like this Businesses are under pressure to hire minorities and women.3 → be in the/a minority4 → be in a minority of one5 [uncountable] lawSSC the period of time when someone is below the age at which they become legally responsible for their actionsCOLLOCATIONSadjectivesa small minorityShe is one of a small minority of women working in engineering.a tiny minorityOnly a tiny minority of the population actually commit crimes.a large minorityA large minority of women feel happier when their husbands leave them.a substantial/sizeable minority (=a large minority)A sizeable minority of people sleep less than five hours a night without problems.a significant minority (=a large and fairly important minority)A significant minority of older people have difficulty in caring for themselves.verbsbe in a minorityMale students are in a minority in this class.represent a minorityOld people still only represent a minority of the population.form a minority (also constitute a minority formal)This type of cell forms a minority of the cells in the nervous system.affect a minorityThe side effects only affect a minority of people who take the drug.minority + NOUNa minority groupIt’s ridiculous to refer to women as a minority group.a minority interestJazz is a minority interest, but it is still an important part of musical studies.a minority opinion/viewThis is a minority view among scientists.a minority stake (=a number of shares in a company, equalling less than half the total number)IBM has bought a minority stake in the computer company.a minority shareholder (=someone who owns less than half the shares in a company)A minority shareholder with 10% of voting rights refused to accept the plan.
Examples from the Corpus
minority• minority-owned businesses• The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority.• Assumptions are made that a minority person should be able to speak for all minority peo-ple.• The law prevents job discrimination against minorities and women.• This was a predominantly Protestant force which soon came to be regarded as repressive and bigoted by the Catholic minority.• Pupils from ethnic minorities account for only 4 percent of the school roll.• Both republics have sizable Serbian minorities.• Unfortunately, a small minority disagreed.• Sims said President Clinton remained committed to minority business, especially the 8a program.• Unless the growing spirit of the movement could be harnessed coherently, mob rule would replace Unionist minority rule.minority report• There was both a majority and a minority report, and the latter provided a well argued critique of the system.• That approach was endorsed in a minority report but defeated by the General Assembly, 323 to 226.• A minority report signed by several distinguished social scientists argued that there was.• An influential minority report by Derek Senior advocated a map involving solely two-tier regional authorities, 35 in number.• The conference adopted the minority report and family allowances were not discussed formally at an annual conference again until 1941.• The minority report recommended that the social services should be developed first and accorded less priority to family allowances.minority leader/businessman/student etc• Maybe a minority student has not had the same opportunities.• Among minority students the figures were, predictably, much lower.• S.-born and minority students to consider careers in science and technology.• A drive to attract more ethnic minority students to Longlands College, Middlesbrough, is showing good results.• He saw it in the low number of minority students enrolled in honors classes.• It also defies basic standards of fairness by discriminating against large numbers of minority students.• Integration must be preserved-something many districts do by setting a bottom line for the percentage of minority students in each school.• Too often minority students themselves are blamed for their failure.From Longman Business Dictionaryminoritymi‧nor‧i‧ty /maɪˈnɒrətiməˈnɔːr-, -ˈnɑːr-/ noun [singular] less than half of the people or things in a particular groupminority ofHe insists that only a minority of workers at the factory want the union. 