Definition of PREDOMINANT

Choose the Right Synonym for predominant

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

Predominant vs. Predominate

Predominant and predominate are synonymous adjectives. Predominant is the older and much more common form. A number of handbooks and commentators hold predominate to be a mistake—a few insisting that the word is only a verb. But they are wrong. As an adjective predominate is somewhat more likely to turn up in technical writing than in general writing. The adverbs predominantly and predominately are a more even match in frequency than their base adjectives are, although predominantly is still significantly more common than predominately.

Examples of predominant in a Sentence

Religion is the predominant theme of the play. She is predominant among new writers.

Recent Examples on the Web

The predominant limestone and sandstone walls in Mammoth Cave tend to reflect sound in aesthetically pleasing ways. — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Cave acoustics can help sculpt more realistic sounds in digital space," 14 Nov. 2018 Even the modular prefab, certainly a rising trend, is still far from becoming the predominant form of residential construction. — Jenny Xie, Curbed, "Where the ‘home of the future’ goes from here," 10 Sep. 2018 It's become increasingly apparent that snakeskin prints are a predominant trend for fall 2018. — Ana Colón, Glamour, "Rihanna Wore Fall's Snakeskin Trend As Only Rihanna Can," 3 Oct. 2018 Yes, and the predominant percentage believes that that is factual. — Peter Kafka, Recode, "Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey talked to NYU’s Jay Rosen for an hour, on the record. Read and listen to the full interview here.," 14 Sep. 2018 Older colonials and postwar Capes and split-levels are the predominant housing types. — Jay Levin, New York Times, "Bergenfield, N.J.: Comfortable And Unassuming," 25 Apr. 2018 So began the latest turn in a 40-year dance between Nicaragua's predominant religion and Ortega, the former Marxist guerrilla who once infuriated the Vatican but gradually forged an alliance with the church. — Christopher Sherman, Fox News, "In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega bends to Catholic Church," 17 May 2018 Eight-year-old Asifa was a member of a nomadic Muslim community that takes its sheep and goats to graze during the winter in a part of India's Jammu and Kashmir state that is dominated by Hindus, India's predominant religion. — Shashank Bengali, latimes.com, "Why India's rape crisis is getting worse under Narendra Modi," 21 Apr. 2018 That district, which is held by Democratic state Rep. Ramon Romero, was deemed an impermissible racial gerrymander because lawmakers illegally used race as the predominant factor in deciding its boundaries. — Alexa Ura, star-telegram, "Texas elections unchanged despite racial gerrymander ruling for Fort Worth House district," 3 July 2018

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