dominant

adjective dom·i·nant \ -nənt \

|Updated on: 6 Aug 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: dominant in a Sentence

Definition of dominant

1 a : commanding, controlling, or prevailing over all others

the dominant culture

b : very important, powerful, or successful

a dominant theme

a dominant industry

the team's dominant performance

2 : overlooking and commanding from a superior position

a dominant hill

3 : of, relating to, or exerting ecological or genetic dominance

dominant genes

dominant and recessive traits

4 biology : being the one of a pair of bodily structures that is the more effective or predominant in action

dominant eye

used her dominant hand

—

dominantly

adverb

See dominant defined for English-language learners

See dominant defined for kids

Examples of dominant in a Sentence

The company is now dominant in its market.
It is the dominant culture in the region.
the dominant female of the pack

Recent Examples of dominant from the Web

Despite not possessing the prototypical size of a powerful midfielder (such as teammate Paul Pogba), Kante is one of the most dominant players in the world at his position.

— hayden bird, BostonGlobe.com, "What to know about the World Cup title match," 14 July 2018
According to the blog He Spoke Style, the signet ring is traditionally worn on the pinky finger of the non-dominant hand.

— kayla keegan, Good Housekeeping, "Why Prince Charles Always Wears a Ring on His Pinky," 5 July 2018
The deal allowed Uber to exit a costly fight for market share in the fast-growing region of 600 million people in which Grab emerged as the dominant player.

— saurabh chaturvedi, WSJ, "Uber-Grab Deal Reduced Competition, Singapore’s Antimonopoly Watchdog Finds," 5 July 2018
The history of training people to use the non-dominant hand is fraught with abuse, as left-handedness was once the source of stigma.

— tom avril, Philly.com, "Phillies pitcher Vince Velasquez can throw with either hand. What does that say about his brain?," 3 July 2018
When your job involves gripping and throwing, having a finger injury to your dominant hand is a bad thing.

— paul daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "TML: The Reds' sweep of the Cubs made for the most satisfying sports weekend in a while," 25 June 2018
Expect a monster season from beginning to end from one of the more dominant players in the state.

— richard obert, azcentral, "The hybrids: Top 10 Arizona high school football TE/WR in 2018," 25 June 2018
The great teams of the future will have long-range shooting and size, and if a truly dominant post player shows up at the center position — think Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Hakeem Olajuwon — pull back the next curtain.

— bruce jenkins, SFChronicle.com, "As the Warriors go their way, the big men multiply," 23 June 2018
Moisten your dominant hand with water and pick up the sushi rice.

— chronicle staff, San Francisco Chronicle, "4 recipes from now-closed Terra in St. Helena," 11 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dominant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of dominant

Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin dominant-, dominans, present participle of dominari — see dominate

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1532

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

dominant Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of dominant

dominant, predominant, paramount, preponderant mean superior to all others in influence or importance. dominant applies to something that is uppermost because ruling or controlling.

- a dominant social class

predominant applies to something that exerts, often temporarily, the most marked influence.

- a predominant emotion

paramount implies supremacy in importance, rank, or jurisdiction.

- unemployment was the paramount issue in the campaign

preponderant applies to an element or factor that outweighs all others in influence or effect.

- preponderant evidence in her favor

Other Genetics Terms

chimera, hermaphrodite, plasticity

dominant

noun

Definition of dominant

1 music : the fifth tone of a major or minor scale (see ⁶scale 2)

2 a genetics : a character or factor that exerts genetic dominance (see dominance 1b)

b ecology : any of one or more kinds of organism (such as a species) in an ecological community that exerts a controlling influence on the environment and thereby largely determines what other kinds of organisms are present

dominant conifers

c sociology : an individual having a controlling, prevailing, or powerful position in a social hierarchy : a dominant (see ¹dominant 1) individual in a social hierarchy

Recent Examples of dominant from the Web

The Mavericks have the ball-dominant Dennis Smith in place, and the possibility of pairing him with Ayton, Bagley or Jaren Jackson Jr. somewhere in this range is tantalizing.

— jeremy woo, SI.com, "2018 NBA Draft Lottery Guide: What Are Your Team's Chances?," 14 May 2018
Though once dominant in the classroom, Apple has slipped behind Google and Microsoft in recent years, which sell lower cost tablets and laptops that better fit tight school budgets.

— edward c. baig, USA TODAY, "Apple unveils new $299 iPad for students--supports AR, Apple Pencil," 27 Mar. 2018
Early in January, the previous version of this team went through growing pains trying to integrate ball-dominant Isaiah Thomas.

— chris fedor, cleveland.com, "LeBron James splits defenders with fancy behind-the-back dribble through Tristan Thompson's legs (video)," 2 Mar. 2018
Not that the Steelers wouldn't take a dominant, Brown-esque day of production from Martavis Bryant or JuJu Smith-Schuster, but Pittsburgh is probably going to depend on a by-committee approach accentuated by some sporadic playmaking.

— jacob klinger | jklinger@pennlive.com, cleveland.com, "Steelers vs Texans: 6 keys to Pittsburgh beating Houston," 24 Dec. 2017
Also, right-handed people are usually left-leg dominant.

— profootballdoc, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Finding the good (or not as bad as it could be) in Deshaun Watson's injury," 3 Nov. 2017
Christian Brothers: The Oregon commit is as dominant of a tight end as this area has seen.

— joe davidson, sacbee, "Sizing up Bee Player of the Year race: ‘He’s the best player ... bar none.’," 2 Nov. 2017
The Jags are run-dominant and are toast if rookie Leonard Fournette gets hurt.

— george diaz, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Bucs, Jaguars flip expectations in Bizarro World start to NFL season," 19 Oct. 2017
Fans had a love/hate relationship with Jackson’s ball-dominant, over-dribbling game.

— vince ellis, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Pistons' Reggie Jackson shares in win: 'Good to have him back'," 19 Oct. 2017

Origin and Etymology of dominant

see ¹dominant

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1819

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Other Genetics Terms

chimera, hermaphrodite, plasticity

DOMINANT Defined for English Language Learners

dominant

adjective

Definition of dominant for English Language Learners

: more important, powerful, or successful than most or all others
: most common
biology : causing or relating to a characteristic or condition that a child will have if one of the child's parents has it