proportional representation

noun

: an electoral system in which the number of seats held by a political group or party in a legislative body is determined by the number of popular votes received

Examples of proportional representation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

One natural answer is proportional representation of the town’s people. — Lyndie Chiou, Scientific American, 2 Oct. 2026

Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper university in São Paulo, said candidates like Tiririca punch above their weight because of Brazil’s proportional representation system. — Mauricio Savarese, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2026

Germany's electoral model is a combination of winner-take-all and proportional representation, meaning that parties need partners to form the parliamentary majority needed to govern. — Esme Nicholson, NPR, 21 Sep. 2026

Congress did amend Section 2 of the act to include discriminatory effects; the legislation did not require racially proportional representation. — Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1870, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for proportional representation

• deinstitutionalization
• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration
• accentuation
• accommodation
• accreditation
• acculturation
• accumulation
• acetylation
• adjudication
• administration