prepotency

[ pree-poht-n-see ]
See synonyms for prepotency on Thesaurus.com
nounGenetics.
  1. the ability of one parent to impress its hereditary characters on its progeny because it possesses more homozygous, dominant, or epistatic genes.

Origin of prepotency

1
1640–50 for general sense “predominance”; <Latin praepotentia.See prepotent, -ency

Words Nearby prepotency

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use prepotency in a sentence

  • This has also been enforced by statements as to the prepotency of certain pollen of identical species, but of distinct races.

    On the Genesis of Species | St. George Mivart
  • There is no factor in breeding of more importance than prepotency, and none which is more difficult to estimate.

  • We have now to consider the bearing of what is called "prepotency" on the theory of physiological selection.

  • Thus, we necessarily select the only trait really worth while; that is prepotency or the ability to beget desirable qualities.

    The Dollar Hen | Milo M. Hastings
  • But this epoch of Ghibelline prepotency in Tuscany was brief.

British Dictionary definitions for prepotency

prepotency

/ (prɪˈpəʊtənsɪ) /


noun
  1. the state or condition of being prepotent

  2. genetics the ability of one parent to transmit more characteristics to its offspring than the other parent

  1. botany the ability of pollen from one source to bring about fertilization more readily than that from other sources

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012