predominate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to be the stronger or leading element or force.
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to have numerical superiority or advantage.
The radicals predominate in the new legislature.
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to surpass others in authority or influence; be preeminent.
He predominated in the political scene.
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to have or exert controlling power (often followed byover ).
Good sense predominated over the impulse to fight.
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to appear more noticeable or imposing than something else.
Blues and greens predominated in the painting.
verb (used with object)
verb
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to have power, influence, or control
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(intr) to prevail or preponderate
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rare (tr) to dominate or have control over
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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predominatesimple
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predominatessimple
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have predominatedperfect
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has predominatedperfect
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am predominatingprogressive
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are predominatingprogressive
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is predominatingprogressive
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have been predominatingperfect progressive
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has been predominatingperfect progressive
Past
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predominatedsimple
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had predominatedperfect
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was predominatingprogressive
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were predominatingprogressive
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had been predominatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of predominate
1585–95; < Medieval Latin praedominātus, past participle of praedominārī to predominate. See pre-, dominate
Explanation
Of all the social networks, one predominates. Facebook is by far the biggest and most influential. When someone or something predominates, it's the largest or most powerful of all. You'll probably already have noticed that the verb "dominate" makes up a good part of predominate, and in fact these are very similar words. To predominate means to be the biggest or most plentiful or most powerful of all. Of course, you want to make sure that you're talking about like things when you're using predominate. In the debate about guns, the most logical voices are rarely the ones that predominate.
Vocabulary lists containing predominate
"The Gift of the Magi"
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"Bonne Annee," Vocabulary from the personal essay
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George Washington's Farewell Address (1796)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Yoruba people, who predominate in south-west Nigeria, are known for having an unusually high number of twin births, but it is not every day two sets of twins tie the knot.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
Nigeria has a population of some 237 million people, split roughly between Muslims, who predominate in the north of the country, and Christians.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
The network effect has made RealPage the dominant player in the market at large, and especially so in cities and neighborhoods where big landlords predominate.
From Slate ● Sep. 10, 2024
In the Balkan country, patriarchal family traditions still predominate.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2024
Gradually, however, like Jekyll and Hyde, one personality began to predominate.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
Like the earlier cut, “Chicago Boy,” a jazzy atmosphere predominates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 27, 2026
As a result, the Nodal signal predominates there and the AVE population differentiates.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 18, 2024
In Yoruba culture, which predominates in the south-west of the country, twins are a blessing and their names are predestined.
From BBC ● May 9, 2024
The result is an architecture that’s intended to displace the carbon-heavy cinder-block design that predominates in fast-growing African cities, modern and vernacular at the same time.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2023
In this constitution the sentient system predominates, and there exists a great susceptibility to all external impressions.
From Curiosities of Medical Experience by Millingen, J. G. (John Gideon)
Skepticism predominated at the time, with Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Kevin Scott fearing OpenAI might "storm off to Amazon in a huff."
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
“Because the voters enacted the Proposition 50 Map, we hold that the relevant inquiry is whether race predominated in the minds of the voters,” the decision said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
Though it may appear that optimism predominated throughout 2025, there were significant swings in sentiment.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 6, 2026
Tom Vilsack said the agency was adopting an “ecologically-driven” approach to older forests — an arena where logging interests have historically predominated.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 19, 2023
He stopped; his voice was breaking, and I do not know if rage or terror predominated in my own heart.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Interpretations of Islamic law vary widely across the Muslim world, with more moderate strains predominating.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 3, 2021
Now, with anxiety over what happens predominating, “That sort of thing is all gone.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2021
An opening scene in a secretarial pool has female employees chanting in unison—“I enclose an invoice for our services,” “I like your nails”—as the orchestra chatters and pulses around them, with high winds predominating.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 29, 2018
Dozens of contractors, with about a half-dozen predominating, were paid about $800 million by the government to produce what was essentially half-finished garbage.
From Slate ● Nov. 20, 2014
In the background was the reason the photographer wanted us outside—the family laundry with, of course, the diapers predominating.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
