Did you know?
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 predominate in a Sentence
Nashia Baker, Architectural Digest, 20 May 2025
Black and Latino visitors predominate, but on Friday afternoons a cohort of Orthodox Jewish children pack in before the Sabbath, emptying shelves of picture books like Yitzi and the Giant Menorah and A Synagogue Just Like Home.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 5 May 2025
Eliot A. Cohen, Foreign Affairs, 20 Jan. 2018
The party is regrouping after 2024's election losses, with the central debate over whether Democrats should lean more or less into the progressivism that has predominated over the past few years.
—Tom Rogers, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for predominate
Cite this Entry
“Predominate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predominate. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share