predominantadj.n.
/prᵻˈdɒmᵻn(ə)nt/, U.S. /priˈdɑmən(ə)nt/, /prəˈdɑmən(ə)nt/ A. adj.† 3. Mathematics. Designating a branch of a tree diagram containing more than half of the nodes. Obsolete. rare.
1. † c. With of. Domineering over something; overruling. Obsolete. rare.
a. Having ascendancy, supremacy, or prevailing influence over others; superior, predominating.In early use esp. with reference to the supposed influence of bodily humours or (in Astrology) of planets (cf. predominance n. 1).
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society > authority > [adjective] > having superior or predominant authority
moreeOE
overc1175
surmontantc1400
upper1477
predominant1575
predominate1591
overswaying1601
predominated1800
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > predominance or preponderance > [adjective]
preponderanta1500
predominant1575
predominate1591
ascendant1634
prepollent1657
preponderate1789
predominated1800
the world > the universe > celestial sphere > zone of celestial sphere > [adjective] > ascendant
predominant1575
predominate1591
1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus Prol. sig. Aiijv Howbeit that ane be ay predominant, And of the laif in maist part hes maistrie.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Hippocrates in Panoplie Epist. 279 You are not ignoraunt, yt melancholy being predominant,..moueth men to madnesse.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet ii. ii. 29 Where the worser is predominant, Full soone the canker death eats vp that plant. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) i. i. 193 Hel. The warres hath so kept you vnder, that you must needes be borne vnder Mars. Par. When he was predominant . View more context for this quotation
1622 G. de Malynes Maintenance of Free Trade iv. 81 This Valuation..is Prædominant and ouer-ruleth the Kings Valuation.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Anat. Ireland (1691) 34 Why do not the predominant Party in Parliament..make England beyond Trent another Kingdom?
1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 34 Their Fears were predominant over all their Passions.
1792 M. Deverell Mary, Queen of Scots i. ii. 5 Nature's dictates are predominant.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. v. i. 315 After the power of the English became predominant.
1863 ‘G. Eliot’ Romola I. i. 24 A change which was apt to make the women's voices predominant in the chorus.
1913 ‘Sepharial’ Kabala of Numbers II. xii. 189 Suppose..that a child is born when the influence of Venus is predominant.
1982 Washington Post (Nexis) 19 Sept. a15 The historic split between the Christian minority, which is economically and politically predominant, and the Moslem majority.
2000 L. De Winter & P. Dumont in K. Heidar & R. Koole Parl. Party Groups European Democracies vii. 111 In practice..the EPO [= extra-parliamentary party organization] has an important, if not predominant, say in the selection of the chairperson of the PPG [= parliamentary party group].
b. Constituting the main, most abundant, or strongest element; prevailing, preponderating.
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the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > greater in quantity, amount, or degree > superior in amount or quantity
predominate1591
predominant1601
preponderating1611
domineering1621
overbalancing1623
preponderous1670
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 488 A third [Corinthian metal] of an equall medley and temperature, wherein a man shall not perceiue any one mettall predominant.
1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi v. §2. 182 The Equator where heat is most predominant.
1682 N. Grew Exper. Luctation ii. i. §8 in Anat. Plants 240 The predominant Salt in most Minerals, and parts of Animals, is an Alkaly.
1709 G. Berkeley Ess. New Theory of Vision Ded. p. vi Those Criminal Pleasures, so fashionable and predominant in the Age we live in.
1788 A. Hamilton Federalist Papers lx. 175 The several states are in various degrees addicted to agriculture and commerce. In most, if not all of them, agriculture is predominant.
1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe I. iv. 65 Nothing could be more majestic than his step and manner, had they not been marked by a predominant air of haughtiness.
1863 D. Wilson Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. (ed. 2) II. iv. i. 179 The predominant Erse dialect.
1902 C. A. Montalto de Jesus Historic Macao iv. 41 The Macanese patois..attests a predominant Malaccan element.
1955 E. Bowen World of Love i. 27 Generations of odours of baking and basting,..wrung-out cloths and lamp oil freshly predominant.
2005 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) May 64/3 In the outer part of the belt..the predominant objects are C-, P- and D-class asteroids.
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society > authority > rule or government > oppression > [adjective] > domineering or overbearing
masterfulc1390
pontificalc1440
overmasterfula1450
headya1513
imperious1529
supercilious1536
masterlya1544
termagant1546
law-like1556
masterlike1580
dictator-like1582
peremptory1590
domineering1598
burly1605
high-handed1606
pontificial1613
lording1629
overlordingc1629
pontifician1629
peremptor1630
dictatory1639
predominant1642
dictatorial1692
pontific1716
overbearing1718
dictativea1774
knock-me-down1848
imponenta1882
bossy1882
heavy-handed1883
seigneurial1970
1642 in Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion (1703) II. vi. 49 They were so presumptuous, and predominant of his Majesties Resolutions, that they forbear not those outrages.
d. Highest in position; towering over other objects.
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the world > space > relative position > high position > [adjective] > in higher position > dominating
commandinga1661
uncommanded1693
domineering1694
predominant1796
dominant1853
overlooking1898
1796 T. Holcroft tr. F. L. Stolberg Trav. (1797) II. xliv. 298 The Cupola of St. Peter's rises, predominant, over every object.
1867 A. Barry Life & Wks. Sir C. Barry vii. 251 Made the roofs boldly predominant.
2005 B. Yenne On Trail of Lewis & Clark 191 The company was originally known as the Sleeping Giant Brewery, named for the predominant mountain in the Big Belt Range north of Helena.
2. Heraldry. Of a tincture: covering the entire surface of a coat of arms. Now rare.
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1765 ‘M. A. Porny’ Elements Heraldry 22 When some Metal, Colour, or Fur, is spread all over the Surface or Field, such a Tincture is said to be predominant.
1910 W. A. Copinger Heraldry Simplified 31 The shield may be either one tincture or more than one; when there is one only,..such a tincture is said to be predominant.
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1881 A. Cayley in Amer. Jrnl. Math. 4 267 Here α exceeds by 2 at least the sum of the other numbers; and the branch with α knots, or the number α, is said to be ‘predominant’.
B. n.† 2. spec.
1. That which predominates; a prevailing influence; a predominant quality, feature, or constituent. Now rare.
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the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > predominance or preponderance > [noun] > that which or one who
predominant1589
predominator1654
uppermost1687
overpoise1697
1589 W. Warner Albions Eng. (new ed.) vi. xxxiii. 145 Then luckiest of the Planets were Predominants, say we.
1594 Warres Cyrus 907 Reason, my Lord, was the predominant.
1600 B. Jonson Every Man out of his Humor iii. i. sig. Hiiiv You must first haue an especiall care so to weare your Hat, that it oppresse not confusedly this your Predominant or Fore-top. View more context for this quotation
a1656 J. Ussher Ann. World (1658) vi. 219 The Sun..was the Predominant in Greece, and the Moon in Persia.
1890 C. L. Morgan Animal Life & Intell. 349 I venture to call the prominent quality a predominant as opposed to the isolate.
1998 Federal News Service (Nexis) 6 May Changes that have seen it [sc. the Russian economy] move from a state dominated hyperinflating economy to an economy with stable money and a predominant of Europe.
a. A person's besetting sin; a sin or weakness which dominates a person's moral character. Obsolete.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > sin > kinds of sin > [noun] > besetting
predominant1633
1633 W. Struther in C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David (1871) II. Ps. xxxvi. 4 Every man's predominant is a beast of Satan's saddling and providing.
1649 Last Heavenly Speeches in W. K. Tweedie Select Biogr. (1845) I. 391 You have never cleared yourself of many predominants and bosom sins.
1699 E. West Mem. (1865) 143 I was ill employed, pursuing after my idols and predominants.
1740 Voice of Dead to Living 12 Not guarding nor wrestling against seen and known Ills, especially their Predominants.
a1770 M. Laird Mem. (1775) ix. 91 I had a new conflict to fight with Satan, and my own predominants.
b. Phonetics. In Welsh: any of a group of phonemes which displace the radical consonants in the mutation system. Obsolete. rare.
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1856 J. Williams tr. Anc. Gram. Edeyrn §134 Predominants..which are f, ph, ch, ng, ngh, dd, th, l, m, n, r, mh, nh, being so called because they prevail over the umbratiles, thrust them out of the sentence, and reign by their own power in their stead.
Compounds
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1890 Cent. Dict. at Predominant Predominant nerve, the principal or main nerve, as in the leaves of mosses.
predominant partner n. (originally) England, viewed as the most powerful of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (now historical); (in extended use) any nation or state considered as the most influential member of an economic or political grouping.
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1894 Ld. Rosebery in Hansard Lords 12 Mar. 32 The noble Marquess [of Salisbury]..said that before Irish Home Rule is conceded by the Imperial Parliament England, as the predominant Member of the partnership of the Three Kingdoms, will have to be convinced of its justice and equity.]
1894 Times 14 Mar. 9/3 Lord Rosebery had practically postponed the Home Rule Bill until England, the predominant partner, had been convinced of its justice.
1904 Daily Chron. 18 Mar. 6/4 If the predominant partner theory was to be carried out in the next Government.
1920 G. P. Gooch Nationalism iii. 52 Prussia alone was strong enough to expel her rival and to take her place as the predominant partner in a close federation of German States.
1982 Hist. Jrnl. 25 124 In the 1890s..Salisbury applied the concept of the ‘predominant partner’ to the Irish question in the course of his successful campaign to defeat the second Home Rule Bill.
1996 R. Taylor Greater China & Japan v. 162 The Chinese urge consultation among all parties on an equal footing rather than decision masking by a predominant partner.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1575