plurality

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The state or fact of being plural.
• noun A large number or amount; a multitude.
• noun Pluralism.
• noun The offices or benefices held by a pluralist.
• noun In a contest of more than two choices, the number of votes cast for the winning choice if this number is not more than one half of the total votes cast.
• noun The number by which the vote of the winning choice in such a contest exceeds that of the closest opponent.
• noun The larger or greater part.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The character of being plural; the fact of expressing or of consisting of more than one; also, a number greater than unity: as, a plurality of gods; a plurality of worlds.
• noun The greater number; the majority.
• noun In United States politics, the number by which the votes cast for the candidate who receives the greatest number exceed the votes cast for the candidate who receives the next greatest number, when there are more than two candidates and no one candidate receives a majority of the votes.
• noun Eccles.: The holding of two or more benefices by the same person at the same time; pluralism.
• noun One of two or more livings held by the same incumbent. See living, 4 .

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The state of being plural, or consisting of more than one; a number consisting of two or more of the same kind
• noun 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.
• noun (Eccl.) See Plurality of benefices, below.
• noun (Eccl.), [Eng.] the possession by one clergyman of more than one benefice or living. Each benefice thus held is called a plurality.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun uncountable The state of being plural.
• noun ecclesiastical The holding of multiple benefices.
• noun countable A state of being numerous.
• noun countable A number of votes for a single candidate or position which is greater than the number of votes gained by any other single candidate or position voted for, but which is less than a majority of valid votes cast.
• noun countable A margin by which a number exceeds another number, especially of votes.
• noun countable A group of many entities: a large number.
• noun countable A group composed of more than one entity.
• noun of spouses polygamy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun (in an election with more than 2 options) the number of votes for the candidate or party receiving the greatest number (but less that half of the votes)
• noun the state of being plural
• noun a large indefinite number