The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word MAJORITY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
M
A
J
O
R
I
T
Y
More clues leading to the result MAJORITY
- Officer rank needed to win a seat?
- No pressure for clemency after PM gets winning margin
- Over half graduate and run computer department in transport
- Most push back men with sorrow, but not Penny
- Army officer with appeal unknown to more than half
- More than half coming of age
- … current gutless Tory follows Tory
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "needed to win a seat" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case needed to win a seat = majority.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does MAJORITY mean?
MAJORITY noun- More than half (50%) of some group.
- The difference between the winning vote and the rest of the votes.
- Legal adulthood.
- The office held by a member of the armed forces in the rank of major.
- Ancestors; ancestry.