prominence

American  

[prom-uh-nuhns] / ˈprɒm ə nəns /

noun

• prominences
  plural

1. Also prominency. the state of being prominent; conspicuousness.

2. something that is prominent; a projection or protuberance.

   a prominence high over a ravine.

   Synonyms:

   peak, precipice, height, promontory

3. Also called solar prominence. Astronomy. an eruption of a flamelike tongue of relatively cool, high-density gas from the solar chromosphere into the corona where it can be seen during a solar eclipse or by observing strong spectral lines in its emission spectrum.

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prominence British  

/ ˈprɒmɪnəns /

noun

1. the state or quality of being prominent

2. something that is prominent, such as a protuberance

3. relative importance or consequence

4. astronomy an eruption of incandescent gas from the sun's surface that can reach an altitude of several hundred thousand kilometres. Prominences are visible during a total eclipse. When viewed in front of the brighter solar disc, they are called filaments

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prominence Scientific  

/ prŏm′ə-nəns /

1. An eruption of tonguelike clouds of glowing ionized gas extending from the Sun's chromosphere and sometimes reaching hundreds of thousands of kilometers into space. When viewed against the solar surface instead of along the edges of its disk, prominences appear as dark, sinuous lines known as filaments. Usually associated with sunspot activity, solar prominences can influence Earth's atmosphere by interfering with electromagnetic activity.

2. ◆ Active prominences erupt suddenly and usually disappear within minutes or hours. Quiescent prominences form more smoothly and can last for several months.

3. See also solar flare

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonprominence
  noun
• overprominence
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• prominences
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of prominence

First recorded in 1590–1600, prominence is from the Latin word prōminentia a jutting out, protuberance. See prominent, -ence

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Explanation

Prominence has to do with importance. If a band becomes famous, they've come into prominence. Prominence is a type of importance: if you put a statue in the middle of a room, you're giving it a place of prominence. In movies, music, and sports, the most successful people have great prominence — they're prominent or famous. Anything that juts out or sticks out has prominence. Whether prominence comes from being widely known or just being hard to miss, you can't really ignore anything or anybody that has achieved prominence.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

prominence prominences

Shkreli came to prominence a decade ago for buying the rights to Daraprim, a drug used to treat a rare parasitic infection known as toxoplasmosis that primarily affects people who are immunocompromised.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

Vucic rose to prominence in the 1990s as an ultra-nationalist ally of Milosevic, serving as his information minister in 1998.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

While other members like Kenneth Hayes Miller, Isabel Bishop and Reginald Marsh have retained their prominence, Soyer has not, a fact being rectified by Forum Gallery’s mini-retrospective.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

Hugging Face, a platform for AI developers, more recently rose to prominence after it admitted to being hacked by AI agents, or AI bots that operate somewhat autonomously, that came out of OpenAI.

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

Isn’t that prominence just an ephemeral phenomenon of the last few centuries, now fading behind the prominence of Japan and Southeast Asia?

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Solar prominences are enormous structures of glowing plasma that extend outward from the Sun's surface and are often shaped by powerful magnetic fields.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026

And for those looking closely they may have seen small loops of pink gas called prominences following the Sun's turbulent magnetic field.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

Another feature that can be seen are flame-like structures called prominences on the edge of the sun, showing up in contrast to the white light of the corona.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2024

“Solar prominences, corona, oh my god!” he said.

From New York Times ● Apr. 20, 2023

Violent solar storms produce brilliant flares that disrupt radio communications on Earth; and immense arching plumes of hot gas, guided by the Sun’s magnetic field, the solar prominences, which dwarf the Earth.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

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Related Words

• celebrity
• eminence
• fame
• greatness
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• prestige
• renown
• reputation
• standing

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