[General] definition：most of the people

[jiamajia]

Suppose we are electing a mayor and there are seven candidates: a-b-c-d-e-f-g-

a--180 votes
b--50 votes
c--140 votes
d--120 votes
e--45 votes
f-- 64 votes
g--110 votes

Can we say most of the people voted for Mr. a? Or it should be Mr. a got the most votes. Does most of the people mean a majority of the people?

 

[emsr2d2]

Suppose we are electing a mayor and there are seven candidates: a-b-c-d-e-f-g-

a--180 votes
b--50 votes
c--140 votes
d--120 votes
e--45 votes
f-- 64 votes
g--110 votes

Can we say most of the people voted for Mr. a? Or it should be Mr. a got the most votes. Does most of the people mean a majority of the people?

Most people can mean the majority. However, in the example you gave, the majority of people didn't vote for Mr A. If you add up all the votes, there were 709 votes, of which only 180 were for Mr A. 529 people voted for someone else. That is not a majority. Mr A will have won if the election simply states that the person with the most votes wins.

Most people, to me, would mean something above 50% but there is no exact definition.

 

[Reemy]

Hi,

One of the meanings of most is a great majority of; nearly all.


most - definition of most by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

 

[SoothingDave]

The word you are looking for is "plurality."

Mr A won a plurality of the votes. That means he got more than anyone else, but not more than 50 % (a majority).