predominant (adj.)

1570s, "ruling; controlling; exerting power, authority, or influence," from French prédominant (14c.), from Medieval Latin *praedominantem (nominative praedominans), present participle of *praedominare, from Latin prae "before" (see pre-) + dominari "to rule, dominate, to govern," from dominus "lord, master," from domus "house" (from PIE root *dem- "house, household"). Weakened sense of "more frequent, prevalent" is from c. 1600. Related: Predominantly.

Predominant implies activity, and actual or figurative effort after leadership on the part of that which is predominated over: as, a predominant faction; a predominant opinion is one that seems to put down all others. [Century Dictionary]

also from 1570s

Entries linking to predominant

predominance (n.)

"quality of being predominant; superiority in power, authority, or influence," c. 1600; see predominant + -ance. Related: Predominancy (1590s).

*dem-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "house, household." It represents the usual Indo-European word for "house" (Italian, Spanish casa are from Latin casa "cottage, hut;" Germanic *hus is of obscure origin).

It forms all or part of: Anno Domini; belladonna; condominium; dame; damsel; dan "title of address to members of religious orders;" danger; dangerous; demesne; despot; Dom Perignon; domain; dome; domestic; domesticate; domicile; dominate; domination; dominion; domino; don (n.) "Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese title of respect;" Donna; dungeon; ma'am; madam; madame; mademoiselle; madonna; major-domo; predominant; predominate; timber; toft.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit damah "house;" Avestan demana- "house;" Greek domos "house," despotēs "master, lord;" Latin domus "house," dominus "master of a household;" Armenian tanu-ter "house-lord;" Old Church Slavonic domu, Russian dom "house;" Lithuanian dimstis "enclosed court, property;" Old Norse topt "homestead."

pre-

word-forming element meaning "before," from Old French pre- and Medieval Latin pre-, both from Latin prae (adverb and preposition) "before in time or place," from PIE *peri- (source also of Oscan prai, Umbrian pre, Sanskrit pare "thereupon," Greek parai "at," Gaulish are- "at, before," Lithuanian prie "at," Old Church Slavonic pri "at," Gothic faura, Old English fore "before"), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "beyond, in front of, before."

The Latin word was active in forming verbs. Also see prae-. Sometimes in Middle English muddled with words in pro- or per-.

Trends of predominant

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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paramount

"supreme, superior in power or jurisdiction," 1530s, from Anglo-French paramont, Old French paramont "above" (in place, order, degree), mid-14c., from Old French par "by," from Latin per "through, for, by" (see per (prep.)) + amont "up," from a mont "upward" (see amount (v.)). Th

predominate

1590s, "to have or exert controlling power," from Medieval Latin praedominatus, past participle of *praedominare from Latin prae "before" (see pre-) + dominari "to rule, dominate, to govern," from dominus "lord, master," from domus "house" (from PIE root *dem- "house, household")

prevailing

1590s, "vigorous;" 1680s, "widely accepted, generally current," present-participle adjective from prevail (v.). Related: Prevailingly. Prevalent and prevailing are sometimes the same, and in two senses, that of exceeding in strength, as the prevalent (or prevailing) opinion was

nitre

soda, but also associated since the Middle Ages with saltpeter (potassium nitrate) for obscure reasons; this became the predominant...

notorious

Negative connotation, now predominant, "noted for some bad practice or quality, notable in a bad sense, widely but discreditably...

caught

past tense and past participle of catch (v.), attested from 14c., predominant after c. 1800, replacing earlier catched....

ascendant

The planet that rules the ascendant is believed to have predominant influence on the horoscope....

dominant

mid-15c., dominaunt, in ordre dominaunt, the name of the fourth order of angels, from Old French dominant (13c.) and directly from Latin dominantem (nominative dominans), present participle of dominari "to rule, dominate, to govern," from dominus "lord, master," from domus "house

fire

Old English fyr "fire, a fire," from Proto-Germanic *fūr- (source also of Old Saxon fiur, Old Frisian fiur, Old Norse fürr, Middle Dutch and Dutch vuur, Old High German fiur, German Feuer "fire"), from PIE *perjos, from root *paewr- "fire." Current spelling is attested as early a

rife

Old English rife "abundant, of common occurrence, prevalent," often of hurtful or obnoxious things, from Proto-Germanic *rif- (source also of Old Norse rifr, Swedish river, Norwegian riv, Middle Dutch riif, Middle Low German rive "abundant, generous"), said to be from PIE root *r

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updated on October 30, 2020

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