SINCE 1828
major party
nounDefinition of major party
: 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
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The selection of Milwaukee, which has about 7,000 rooms in downtown where the convention center is located, reflects a trend for both major parties in picking midsize cities for their quadrennial gatherings. — John Mccormick, WSJ, "One Year From Democratic Convention, Hunt Is On for Donors—and Hotel Rooms," 12 July 2019 By contrast, Perot supporters were a mismatch for both major parties. — Todd J. Gillman, Dallas News, "Ross Perot's political legacy: Clinton, populism, Trump and the tea party," 9 July 2019 Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Mexico to gain leverage in immigration negotiations drew criticism from lawmakers in both major parties, who called it a dangerous escalation that could damage the U.S. economy. — Anchorage Daily News, "Trump defends deal with Mexico that critics say will do little to curb migrant crisis," 10 June 2019 To the eyes of the public, the two major parties seemed nearly identical. — Sally Rooney, The New York Review of Books, "Madeleine Schwartz," 18 Apr. 2019 Former energy executive Christine Hallquist could also become the first openly transgender person nominated for governor by a major party. — Li Zhou, Vox, "Live results for the Vermont primary elections," 14 Aug. 2018 But experts on the country’s elections said no major party had fielded a candidate charged under a terrorism statute in decades. — Niha Masih, Washington Post, "Meet one of India’s most divisive new legislators: A Hindu nun charged with terrorism," 13 June 2019 While such a reprimand is a symbolic gesture, the major parties expect to demonstrate how isolated Anning’s views are among Australia’s 226 federal lawmakers. — Rod Mcguirk, The Seattle Times, "‘Egg Boy’ teen defends egging anti-Muslim Australian senator," 25 Mar. 2019 In fact, the last time a major party even nominated a sitting mayor to be president was in 1812, when New York Mayor DeWitt Clinton was nominated, only to lose to incumbent president James Madison. — James Pindell, BostonGlobe.com, "Could one of these mayors make history and jump from City Hall to the White House?," 8 June 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'major party.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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