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
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.
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
It's deliberately very soft, and the idea behind introducing it was to try to generate more pit stops, and force teams away from the one-stop strategies that predominate in F1 at the moment.
From BBC • Sep. 23, 2025
But those are categories in which unions already predominate.
From Slate • Jul. 2, 2025
In the deeper layers, slower oscillations called alpha and beta waves predominate.
From Science Daily • Jan. 18, 2024
Even if the analysis is limited to felonies—thus excluding extremely minor crimes and misdemeanors—nonviolent offenses predominate.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
