supermajority
noun
su·per·ma·jor·i·ty
| \ ˈsü-pər-mə-ˌjȯr-ə-tē
, -ˌjär-\
, -ˌjär-\
plural supermajorities
Definition of supermajority
: a majority (such as two-thirds or three-fifths) that is greater than a simple majority
treaty ratification requires a supermajority Furthermore, it is about even money that soon after Congress convenes in January it will … approve a constitutional amendment to require supermajorities (three-fifths) in both houses of Congress to approve deficit spending.— George F. Will The company, for instance, has a supermajority clause in its articles of incorporation; 80% of the shareholders must approve any sale or merger.— Joshua Hyatt
Examples of supermajority in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The supermajority vote requirement dates back to Proposition 13, the iconic property tax limitation adopted in 1978. — Dan Walters, Orange County Register, "Tax vote issue gets cloudier," 12 Sep. 2019 The supermajority vote requirement dates back to Proposition 13, the iconic property tax limitation adopted in 1978. — Dan Walters, The Mercury News, "Walters: California’s two-thirds vote requirement issue gets cloudier," 12 Sep. 2019 Ultimately, in America, everything falls under democratic control — yes, even the Bill of Rights, which can be amended by a supermajority and which relies for its execution on judges who are chosen by the executive and legislative branches. — Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, "The Post-Liberals’ Incoherence," 20 June 2019 Senior legislative attorney Bob Drummer said a line-item veto could be overruled only by a supermajority — six votes on the nine-member council. — Jennifer Barrios, Washington Post, "Montgomery County executive threatens rare veto over storm water proposal," 17 May 2018 As a result, the Democratic supermajority—something the party might not see again for a generation or more—was squandered. — Alex Shephard, The New Republic, "Do Democrats Have a Plan for the Next Recession?," 16 Aug. 2019 Members of that privacy committee will be nominated by a separate independent nominating committee, and they can only be removed by a supermajority of the eight-member board. — Kate Cox, Ars Technica, "FTC fines Facebook $5 billion, imposes new privacy oversight," 24 July 2019 Those members can be fired only by a supermajority of the board itself. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "What Facebook's new government-enforced privacy restrictions mean for you," 24 July 2019 Facebook will be required to form an independent privacy oversight commission that can only be fired by a supermajority of the company's board of directors, as well as evaluate new products from a privacy standpoint. — Irina Ivanova, CBS News, "FTC's record $5 billion Facebook fine less than a tenth of company's revenue," 24 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'supermajority.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for supermajority
supermajority
noun
su·per·ma·jor·i·ty
| \ ˈsü-pər-mə-ˌjȯr-ə-tē
\
\
Legal Definition of supermajority
: a large majority
a provision requiring a supermajority vote — say, 80 % of the common shares instead of the usual bare majority rule— R. C. Clark