See silent majority on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Popularized in contemporary usage by U.S. President Richard Nixon in a speech on November 3, 1969.\nThe older sense for \"the dead\" was used in English since the 19th century, and further back in Latin by the Roman writer Petronius, who wrote abiit ad plures (“he has gone to the majority”) to describe the dead.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "silent majorities",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "silent majority (plural silent majorities)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"antonyms": [
{
"word": "vocal minority"
}
],
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "US politics",
"orig": "en:US politics",
"parents": [
"Politics",
"United States",
"Society",
"North America",
"All topics",
"America",
"Fundamental",
"Earth",
"Nature"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "89 11",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w+disamb"
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{
"_dis": "89 11",
"kind": "other",
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{
"_dis": "93 7",
"kind": "other",
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"source": "w+disamb"
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{
"_dis": "94 6",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "88 12",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "67 33",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Indonesian translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "67 33",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Malay translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "94 6",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "94 6",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Death",
"orig": "en:Death",
"parents": [
"Body",
"Life",
"All topics",
"Nature",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1969 November 21, “Nation: The Politics of Polarization”, in Time:",
"text": "Nixon took the field against his critics in his Nov. 3 plea to \"the silent majority'\" for backing of his Viet Nam policy.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1998 June 7, Judith Levine, \"What Went Wrong on the Way to Integration\" (book review of Someone Else's House by Tamar Jacoby), Businessweek (retrieved 13 Aug 2012)",
"text": "As for leadership, she applauds New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, whose stern law and order policies have won over the \"black silent majority,\" she says."
},
{
"ref": "2012 July 27, Hiroko Tabuchi, “In Conservative Japan Enclave, Antinuclear Candidate Gains Ground”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-08-13:",
"text": "He has argued, however, that the demonstrations do not represent the silent majority of Japanese (presumably including those in the heartland) who are too anxious about the economy to give up on nuclear energy.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2017, Angela Nagle, chapter 3, in Kill All Normies, Zero Books, →ISBN:",
"text": "Prior to 1968, the right had taken the view that ‘ordinary people’ were still inherently conservative, which you can see echoed today in the ‘silent majority’ rhetoric of modern establishment conservatives.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2020 July 24, Jamelle Bouie, “There Is a ‘Great Silent Majority.’ But It Stands Against Trump.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
"text": "President Trump believes he represents the “silent majority” of the country against a dangerous, radical minority. He says as much on Twitter, frequently yelling “SILENT MAJORITY” at his followers.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The largest portion of a demographic group or of the population of a political jurisdiction, which is considered to possess political and social views that are not openly declared, but that can nevertheless significantly affect voting patterns and social behavior."
],
"id": "en-silent_majority-en-noun-FM5njvDB",
"links": [
[
"demographic",
"demographic"
],
[
"population",
"population"
],
[
"jurisdiction",
"jurisdiction"
],
[
"openly",
"openly"
],
[
"declare",
"declare"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(chiefly US politics) The largest portion of a demographic group or of the population of a political jurisdiction, which is considered to possess political and social views that are not openly declared, but that can nevertheless significantly affect voting patterns and social behavior."
],
"tags": [
"US"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"politics"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "largest portion of a demographic group",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "schweigende Mehrheit"
},
{
"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "largest portion of a demographic group",
"word": "mayoritas diam"
},
{
"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "largest portion of a demographic group",
"word": "majoriti pasif"
},
{
"_dis1": "99 1",
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "largest portion of a demographic group",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "mayoría silenciosa"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English euphemisms",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1884 October, George F. Williams, “Lights and Shadows of Army Life”, in The Century Magazine, volume 28, number 6, page 819:",
"text": "Each man in the long line knows that if an advance is made some of them will not see the sun set, and he cannot shake off the feeling that perhaps his turn has come to join the silent majority.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1899 February, J. A. Benson, “X. A Witch”, in The Land Magazine, volume 3, number 2, London, page 154:",
"text": "How the mind strives to recollect the true form and features of those old folk who departed from us to join the silent majority before they were plainly photographed upon our childish memories.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1907, Andy Adams, chapter 21, in Reed Anthony: Cowman:",
"text": "Two decades have passed since those words, rebuking wrong in high places, were uttered, and the speaker has since passed over to the silent majority.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Those who are dead."
],
"id": "en-silent_majority-en-noun-Bnfk7Jlo",
"links": [
[
"dead",
"dead"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(archaic, euphemistic) Those who are dead."
],
"tags": [
"archaic",
"euphemistic"
]
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Richard Nixon",
"silent majority"
],
"word": "silent majority"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Indonesian translations",
"Terms with Malay translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"en:Death"
],
"etymology_text": "Popularized in contemporary usage by U.S. President Richard Nixon in a speech on November 3, 1969.\nThe older sense for \"the dead\" was used in English since the 19th century, and further back in Latin by the Roman writer Petronius, who wrote abiit ad plures (“he has gone to the majority”) to describe the dead.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "silent majorities",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "silent majority (plural silent majorities)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"antonyms": [
{
"word": "vocal minority"
}
],
"categories": [
"English terms with quotations",
"en:US politics"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1969 November 21, “Nation: The Politics of Polarization”, in Time:",
"text": "Nixon took the field against his critics in his Nov. 3 plea to \"the silent majority'\" for backing of his Viet Nam policy.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1998 June 7, Judith Levine, \"What Went Wrong on the Way to Integration\" (book review of Someone Else's House by Tamar Jacoby), Businessweek (retrieved 13 Aug 2012)",
"text": "As for leadership, she applauds New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, whose stern law and order policies have won over the \"black silent majority,\" she says."
},
{
"ref": "2012 July 27, Hiroko Tabuchi, “In Conservative Japan Enclave, Antinuclear Candidate Gains Ground”, in New York Times, retrieved 2012-08-13:",
"text": "He has argued, however, that the demonstrations do not represent the silent majority of Japanese (presumably including those in the heartland) who are too anxious about the economy to give up on nuclear energy.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2017, Angela Nagle, chapter 3, in Kill All Normies, Zero Books, →ISBN:",
"text": "Prior to 1968, the right had taken the view that ‘ordinary people’ were still inherently conservative, which you can see echoed today in the ‘silent majority’ rhetoric of modern establishment conservatives.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2020 July 24, Jamelle Bouie, “There Is a ‘Great Silent Majority.’ But It Stands Against Trump.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
"text": "President Trump believes he represents the “silent majority” of the country against a dangerous, radical minority. He says as much on Twitter, frequently yelling “SILENT MAJORITY” at his followers.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The largest portion of a demographic group or of the population of a political jurisdiction, which is considered to possess political and social views that are not openly declared, but that can nevertheless significantly affect voting patterns and social behavior."
],
"links": [
[
"demographic",
"demographic"
],
[
"population",
"population"
],
[
"jurisdiction",
"jurisdiction"
],
[
"openly",
"openly"
],
[
"declare",
"declare"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(chiefly US politics) The largest portion of a demographic group or of the population of a political jurisdiction, which is considered to possess political and social views that are not openly declared, but that can nevertheless significantly affect voting patterns and social behavior."
],
"tags": [
"US"
],
"topics": [
"government",
"politics"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English euphemisms",
"English terms with archaic senses",
"English terms with quotations",
"Quotation templates to be cleaned"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1884 October, George F. Williams, “Lights and Shadows of Army Life”, in The Century Magazine, volume 28, number 6, page 819:",
"text": "Each man in the long line knows that if an advance is made some of them will not see the sun set, and he cannot shake off the feeling that perhaps his turn has come to join the silent majority.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1899 February, J. A. Benson, “X. A Witch”, in The Land Magazine, volume 3, number 2, London, page 154:",
"text": "How the mind strives to recollect the true form and features of those old folk who departed from us to join the silent majority before they were plainly photographed upon our childish memories.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1907, Andy Adams, chapter 21, in Reed Anthony: Cowman:",
"text": "Two decades have passed since those words, rebuking wrong in high places, were uttered, and the speaker has since passed over to the silent majority.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Those who are dead."
],
"links": [
[
"dead",
"dead"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(archaic, euphemistic) Those who are dead."
],
"tags": [
"archaic",
"euphemistic"
]
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "largest portion of a demographic group",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "schweigende Mehrheit"
},
{
"code": "id",
"lang": "Indonesian",
"sense": "largest portion of a demographic group",
"word": "mayoritas diam"
},
{
"code": "ms",
"lang": "Malay",
"sense": "largest portion of a demographic group",
"word": "majoriti pasif"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "largest portion of a demographic group",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "mayoría silenciosa"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Richard Nixon",
"silent majority"
],
"word": "silent majority"
}
Download raw JSONL data for silent majority meaning in All languages combined (5.3kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.