pluri-, plur-, plu-
(Latin: more, many)
2. He is dead.
Motto of the United States of America, indicating that a single nation was made by uniting many states or a reference to the many states in the United States as being one nation. It may have been adapted from a line in Virgil's poem, "Moretum" which deals with the making of a salad and reads color est e pluribus unus, probably the first use of the phrase in any form. There was also an essay by Richard Steele in The Spectator, August 20, 1722, which opens with the Latin phrase Exempta juvat spiris e pluribus unus: "Better one thorn plucked than all remain."
The Continental Congress ordered the President of Congress to construct a seal in 1776 and E Pluribus Unum appeared on the first seal, as well as on many early coins. Congress adopted the motto in 1781 and it still appears on U.S. coins as well as on the Great Seal of the United States.
"Just a month after the completion of the Declaration of Independence, at a time when the delegates might have been expected to occupy themselves with more pressing concerns—like how they were going to win the war and escape hanging—Congress quite extraordinarily found time to debate the business of a motto for the new nation. (Their choice, E Pluribus Unum, ‘One from Many,' was taken from, of all places, a recipe for salad in an early poem by Virgil.)"
The translated poem, "Moretum", attributed to Virgil, lines 101-106
Then grinds everything equally in a juicy mixture.
The hand goes in circles: gradually the separate essences
Lose distinction, the color is out of many one [e pluribus unus],
Neither all green, since milky-white bits resist it,
Nor shining milky white, since the herbs are so various.
Virgil used unus because "color" is masculine in Latin; we use the neuter form unum because the United States is considered neuter (neither masculine nor feminine).
Thomas Jefferson is given credit for having suggested E pluribus unum, which was at that time integrated into the first version of the Great Seal in 1776 and has remained there ever since.
2. The greater number, by at least one, when counting the total of something: The majority, or most of the students of the class, decided to go to the football game instead of staying in the library.
2. A group which is comprised of a smaller number than another group the combination of which represents the total size of the something: A minority attending the public meeting did not want the new bridge to be built.
2. The number of votes needed to elect an official that is not 50% of the total votes cast but is more than the total votes cast for either of two or more other candidates: Shanna was elected by a narrow plurality of five.
The majority of the city population had reached their majority and could therefore participate in elections; as a result, their candidate received a plurality of votes. The minority population looked forward to gaining their majority in the next year or two.
This motto, also interpreted to mean "a match for anyone", is attributed to Louis XIV of France, who used the sun as his emblem and was known as Le Roi Soleil, "the sun king".
This is an example of a litotes, a deliberate understatement in which an affirmative thought is expressed by stating the negative of the contrary thought; also, as in the sentence, "I am not unmindful of your devotions".
"Such verbs as are or were indicate plural forms as of is or was."
"The singular forms of I am become such plural forms as, We are; or He, She, It is become plural forms of They are."
2. A reference to more than one thing or person: "There are plural meanings for many word entries in dictionaries.""More and more plural societies are developing in nations as a result of emigrants who are moving around on a global scale."
"The plurals of words are developed from their singular forms."
2. A community in which people of different religious beliefs and practices, or various races, etc. can live together and all them can continue to have their different interests, traditions, and social life styles: "There are some nations that still do not allow pluralism to exist."
2. A status in which something indicates that it is more than one: "Verbs indicate singularities and their related pluralities; for example, the verb are is the plurality of is or have is the plurality of has."
"We have sore feet. is the plurality of He has a sore foot."
2. To use a grammatical morpheme to indicate a noun to be more than one: In her essay for school, Grace made sure that she pluralized the substantives in the correct manner by adding an "s", like boys, girls, parents, etc.