major party

noun

: a political party having electoral strength sufficient to permit it to win control of a government usually with comparative regularity and when defeated to constitute the principal opposition to the party in power

Examples of major party in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Two major parties—Democratic and Republican—have dominated U.S. politics and no third party in recent memory has been able to penetrate the two-party system in a meaningful way. Rebecca Schneid, Time, 6 July 2025 Elections can tell us why Over the past half-century, the two major parties have changed dramatically, both in the absolutist nature of their beliefs and in relation to one another. Charlie Hunt, The Conversation, 3 July 2025 As a result of these divergent trends, there now exists an 11-point gap in confidence between the two major parties — the largest since Gallup began regular tracking 46 years ago. Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 18 July 2025 The foundation contracted with one firm aligned with each of the two major parties. Meg Wingerter, Denver Post, 15 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for major party

Word History

First Known Use

1950, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of major party was in 1950

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Cite this Entry

“Major party.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/major%20party. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.

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