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A hand of bridge has 13 tricks, and one can win between 0 and 13 tricks in a hand.

Between 0 and 6 tricks would constitute a minority of tricks, with 6 being the largest possible (discrete) minority. Seven tricks would be a majority.

So bidding systems are built on a base of six tricks. That is a bid of "one heart" really means "seven tricks, with hearts as trumps."

Is there a term, such as "superminority," that would refer to this base of six tricks as the "largest possible minority."

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  • @ermanen:"Anything." I almost cited the example of 49 out of 100 Senators, or 217 out of 435 Congress people.
    – Tom Au
    Commented Mar 24, 2014 at 17:04
  • Close but no cigar.
    – Canis Lupus
    Commented Mar 24, 2014 at 17:13
  • "just less than 50 percent"
    – Oldcat
    Commented Mar 24, 2014 at 17:57
  • The plurality answer below popped into my head at first, but on further reading of your question, you're basically asking for a noun describing ((n/2)-1) where n is the number of things, right?
    – Gus
    Commented Mar 24, 2014 at 17:57
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    In these circumstances, wouldn't the word for the largest possible minority be 'six'?
    – DJClayworth
    Commented Mar 24, 2014 at 18:09

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The word you're looking could be plurality.

From Wikipedia: " In other words, in an election contested by more than two candidates, plurality occurs when one candidate receives the most votes but not necessarily more than half of the votes".

From my own personal experience, plurality is only used as a deliberate contrast with a majority, or to single out the largest minority.

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  • A plurality only works if you have three catgories, as it means the largest total in the election, but still less than 50 percent. This question is about 2 candidate contests, and getting just over 50 percent to win the game. The N+1 they bid for is to get a majority.
    – Oldcat
    Commented Mar 24, 2014 at 18:00

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