Predominant vs. Predominate

Adjective

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 predominate in a Sentence

Adjective the predominate color in the painting the predominate reason for the change Verb Older people predominate in that neighborhood.

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective The predominate wind flow from the storm was east to west, creating damaging winds but not pushing the water up the Calcasieu River, Truchelut said. — Ashley White, USA TODAY, "Hurricane Laura's 'unsurvivable' storm surge: It looks like Louisiana was spared, but some rural areas likely hit hard," 28 Aug. 2020 For now, however, gendered pronouns remain entrenched, and the predominate view appears to be that when pronouns are spelled out by all, everyone benefits. — Lila Maclellan, Quartz at Work, "Those she/her/hers at the end of email messages are more than a passing trend," 24 June 2019 The predominate amount of attention this spring has been placed on the offense, perhaps for good reason: Frost’s résumé was built on this side of the ball, so expectations are high. — Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY, "Five takeaways from Scott Frost's first spring game with Nebraska," 21 Apr. 2018 Housing costs played a predominate role in the number of years $1 million can last. — Ron Hurtibise, Sun-Sentinel.com, "How long would $1 million in retirement savings last in Fort Lauderdale?," 5 Apr. 2018 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Wax prints and colors predominate, sport elements intermingle with lingerie touches, and almost everything stretches for comfort. — Laird Borrelli-persson, Vogue, "More Than 30 Years Into His Career, Byron Lars Is Starting Over With In Earnest," 25 Feb. 2021 Such work usually starts with checking which flu strains are circulating around the world and predicting which of them will likely predominate in the year ahead. — Mike Stobbe, chicagotribune.com, "The flu has virtually disappeared from US, thanks to COVID-19 measures," 25 Feb. 2021 If the rapacious thieves predominate, the industry will end up with ugly restrictions driven by revenge and raw envy. — Lucinda Shen, Fortune, "67% of you made more in 2020 than in 2019," 18 Feb. 2021 Nelson argues, contrary to Weber, that there are actually two Protestant ethics, the original one espoused by Martin Luther, who sparked the Protestant Reformation, and Calvin’s revision of Luther’s theology, which over time came to predominate. — Win Mccormack, The New Republic, "Getting to Denmark," 30 Dec. 2020 Chrysoprase is also a cornerstone of the powerful Grace, where blue and green sapphires, amethysts, and tsavorites also predominate in a dynamic visual ode to style, music, and screen vanguard Jones. — Harper's BAZAAR, "Richard Mille's New Watch Collection Is a Celebration of Female Empowerment," 9 Dec. 2020 Most Sinhalese, the country’s biggest ethnic group, are Buddhist; Tamils, who predominate in the north, including Jaffna, tend to be Hindu, and there are also small Christian and Muslim minorities. — The Economist, "Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority has become more politically fractured," 28 Nov. 2020 Higher-paying majors, where male students are concentrated, will fare better, but lower-wage majors, where women predominate, will feel the impact harder. — Chabeli Carrazana, USA TODAY, "Coronavirus pandemic creates America's first female recession amid child care, unemployment woes," 4 Aug. 2020 In fact, almost nothing in financial markets right now suggests that supply effects will predominate. — Mike Bird, WSJ, "How Coronavirus-Sparked Shortages Could Actually Reduce Inflation," 2 Mar. 2020

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