prepotent
Americanadjective
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preeminent in power, authority, or influence; predominant.
a prepotent name in the oil business.
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Genetics. noting, pertaining to, or having prepotency.
adjective
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greater in power, force, or influence
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biology showing prepotency
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prepotent
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin praepotent- (stem of praepotēns ), present participle of praeposse to have greater power. See pre-, potent 1
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.
Without these most prepotent needs met, people do not even get an opportunity for further growth as a human.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 24, 2017
Perhaps not since the full-blown Garbo has the old world offered to the new such a prepotent image of the eternal feminine as can be seen in the mysteriously soulful face of Maria Schell.
From Time Magazine Archive
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The minute a stud dog, perfect in himself, is prepotent to impress upon his offspring a defect in his ancestry, discard him at once.
From The Boston Terrier and All About It A Practical, Scientific, and Up to Date Guide to the Breeding of the American Dog by Edward Axtell
The civilized theater has begun to come; the prepotent influence of the audience is recognized.
From How to See a Play by Sir Richard Francis Burton
In making reciprocal crosses between pouter and fantail pigeons, the pouter-race seemed to be prepotent through both sexes over the fantail.
From The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Volume II (of 2) by Charles Darwin
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.