preponderant

adjective

pre·​pon·​der·​ant pri-ˈpän-d(ə-)rənt 

1

: having superior weight, force, or influence

2

: having greater prevalence

preponderantly adverb

Choose the Right Synonym for preponderant

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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The relevance and recent growth of regional Mexican music has become undeniable, and today, the genre holds a preponderant place within the industry. —Tere Aguilera, Billboard, 16 Mar. 2023

But last week in PLoS ONE a paper looking at the patterns of ancestry in the Brazilian population came to a somewhat inverseconclusion as to the self-conception or perception of the preponderant racial identity of that nation. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 25 Feb. 2011

Our prior expectation should be that the admixture is non-trivial, though not preponderant. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 23 Apr. 2012

The authors have no explanation for the apparent lack of awareness for this widely preponderant syndrome and its severe cosmetically disfiguring potential. —Ncbi Rofl, Discover Magazine, 12 Feb. 2013

Under federal law, race cannot be a preponderant motive in drawing a district, wrote Dr. Cervas, a fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. —Jimmy Vielkind And Eliza Collins, WSJ, 21 May 2022

In theory the Russian and Indian constitutions are religiously neutral, but in practice each has a preponderant faith (respectively Orthodox Christianity and Hinduism), and both religious minorities and secularists complain of discrimination. —The Economist, 14 Dec. 2020

What remains a preponderant complexity is just when optimal dirt shoveling occurs. —Ian Allen, The New Republic, 12 Aug. 2020

Indeed, by election eve, Democrats, in the preponderant manner of the 2016 campaign, had raised a record $1 billion for state, House, and Senate midterm races, with hundreds of millions more garnered by the progressive political-action committees. —Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 17 Mar. 2020

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Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

preponderant

adjective

pre·​pon·​der·​ant pri-ˈpän-d(ə-)rənt 

1

: having greater weight, force, or influence : predominant

2

: having greater frequency

preponderantly adverb