(n.) The state of being plural, or consisting of more than one; a number consisting of two or more of the same kind; as, a plurality of worlds; the plurality of a verb.
(n.) The greater number; a majority; also, the greatest of several numbers; in elections, the excess of the votes given for one candidate over those given for another, or for any other, candidate. When there are more than two candidates, the one who receives the plurality of votes may have less than a majority. See Majority.
(n.) See Plurality of benefices, below.
Example Sentences:
(1) Thus it is unclear how a language learner determines whether German even has a regular plural, and if so what form it takes.
(2) Discussion deals with the plurality, specificity, variability, perceived necessity, sufficiency, international utility and career significance of British postgraduate qualifications.
(3) A lawyer advising one of the newspaper groups opposing the deal said: "All the regulator has to prove is that there is a potential for a reduction in plurality in the UK.
(4) The BBC should not be forced to close any channels or axe any programmes as part of any review of plurality and ownership in the media industry, according to a submission the broadcaster has filed with media regulator Ofcom .
(5) How are medical roles adapted to the situation of medical pluralism and the predicaments that flow from such a situation.
(6) Plural HCV-J genomes were found in two of the cDNAs derived from liver specimens, and a deletion of 102 nucleotides was found in the cDNA derived from one plasma specimen.
(7) The Conservative peer and chancellor of the University of Oxford took the view – rightly – two decades ago that Hong Kong’s prosperity was underpinned by a free and plural society.
(8) "I find it quite curious that it's Mark Thompson who is leading the charge about News Corp's plurality when the BBC always put their hands up and say we're impartial.
(9) Starting of from the notion that medicine presents a plurality of aims, it is proposed that it should be conceived as a "science of actions" rather than as a "science of objects".
(10) Of particular importance in shaping public policy are four factors: (1) the American character, including ideas and attitudes that are the basis of politics and policy; (2) the pluralism that characterizes the process, including the relationship between government and the private sector and the dominant role of the private sector; (3) the federal system that distributes authority among various levels of government (federalism); and (4) incrementalism, which is the step-by-step process that characterizes the development of policies.
(11) These observations indicate a plurality of sites of action of GAL on digestive tract motility including local duodenal receptors and suggest the importance of a spinal component in the control of motility by GAL when given intrathecally.
(12) "Well I think Christopher [Pyne] said schools would get the same amount of money, and schools – plural – will get the same amount of money.
(13) The National Infant Mortality Surveillance (NIMS) project aggregated data provided by 53 vital statistics reporting areas--50 States, New York City, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (subsequently called States)--from their files of linked birth and death certificates and compared individual States' total infant mortality experiences for the 1980 birth cohort by age at death, race, birth weight, and plurality.
(14) A case of presumed psychosis in a 16-year-old Taiwanese girl is examined to show the role of performance in creating meaning in a plural medical system.
(15) On the evidence available, I consider that it may be the case that the merger may operate against the public interest in media plurality," Hunt said.
(16) Mr Cable can now prove his faith in competition by referring the Sky bid on the grounds of the effect it would have on media plurality.
(17) The regulators have confirmed that the proposed undertakings are still sufficient to ensure media plurality," Hunt said.
(18) They merely want a genuinely plural political system and fair elections.
(19) The NRA has not won the argument – only a tiny percentage believe, like the NRA, that controls are too strict and a plurality want to make them stricter – but they do keep on winning the votes.
(20) The use of singular and plural first-person pronouns provided a measure of individuality and mutuality in families of 18 field-dependent and 20 field-independent children (19 boys and 19 girls).
Polygamy
Definition:
(n.) The having of a plurality of wives or husbands at the same time; usually, the marriage of a man to more than one woman, or the practice of having several wives, at the same time; -- opposed to monogamy; as, the nations of the East practiced polygamy. See the Note under Bigamy, and cf. Polyandry.
(n.) The state or habit of having more than one mate.
(n.) The condition or state of a plant which bears both perfect and unisexual flowers.
Example Sentences:
(1) Polygamy and Islam were more prevalent among the EA than the booked.
(2) Gene Schaerr, who represented Utah, warned that if the state could not define marriage the way it wanted, it might have to open the door to polygamy.
(3) The incidence of polygamy was higher among the rejectors, and rejectors' husbands had more children from their other wives.
(4) Current family adversity in terms of unstable parental union, paternal use of alcohol, polygamy and sibship size operated by interactive or additive effect.
(5) This is underscored by our current inability to explain satisfactorily several patterns including the relative significance of floating, geographic biases in the incidence of cooperative breeding, sexual asymmetries in delayed dispersal, the relationship between delayed dispersal leading to helping behavior and cooperative polygamy, and the rarity of the co-occurrence of helpers and floaters within the same population.
(6) The vehemence of Conservative divisions over same-sex marriage were exposed when one Tory MP said it would undermine "normal marriage", another questioned whether polygamy would be legalised next, and a third claimed that European judges will soon force the Church of England to allow same-sex marriages against its will.
(7) 'He was sitting directly in front of me, with three wives on one side and four on the other, and I began to sing "polygamy is the worst of all things".
(8) It’s not a conservative society in a stereotyped way.” She has campaigned against issues such as polygamy, domestic violence and so-called “honour” killings.
(9) He supports polygamy and a ban on gambling and alcohol, and wants to build Europe's largest mosque - and he leads a large private militia which is accused of savage brutality in Chechnya.
(10) Further, it is shown that the human species rapidly evolved its life-extending mutations because of the special circumstances afforded by the subdivision of the species into small semi-isolated (genetically) tribes of 10-100 individuals in which polygamy was the key factor in rapid incorporation of life- and well-being-extending new features.
(11) The total fertility of 6.2 was high but lower than the national average possibly because of the high rates of polygamy and primary infertility and the long periods of amenorrhoea and breast feeding which occurred after delivery.
(12) Sexually-transmitted diseases such as vaginitis (80%) were caused by polygamy, prostitution, and promiscuity, HIV serodiagnosis could not be performed because of a lack of equipment.
(13) We were told gay marriage was the slippery slope to polygamy, bestiality and incest.
(14) Rather, the data show that polygamy and monogamy select women with different social characteristics, which are associated with different rates of cumulative fertility.
(15) The contributions of such factors as rural-urban migration, birth order, family size, polygamy and genetics to the etiology of major mental disorders in this population require further investigations.
(16) Dr Matthew Offord, MP for Hendon, asked if the government was going to introduce other forms of marriage, such as polygamy.
(17) It is possible that multiple marriages and polygamy played a significant role in the bacterial colonisation of the endometrium in the Hausa-Fulani population of Zaria, Nigeria.
(18) The elected president, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi, rescinded some of these rights: restrictions on polygamy were lifted; a reduction of the marriage age was proposed; women's right to seek divorce was limited.
(19) One local mayor was roundly criticised earlier this year after he warned legalising gay marriage would open the way to legalising polygamy or incest.
(20) Polygamy is fairly widespread in Chechnya, explained partly by local traditions and partly by a shortage of menfolk after all the tragedies the Chechens have experienced in recent decades.