prevailing
Americanadjective
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prevailing winds.
- Synonyms:
- prevalent, dominant, preponderant
-
generally current.
the prevailing opinion.
- Synonyms:
- widespread, common
- Antonyms:
- rare
-
having superior power or influence.
-
- Synonyms:
- effective
adjective
-
generally accepted; widespread
the prevailing opinion
-
most frequent or conspicuous; predominant
the prevailing wind is from the north
Usage
What are other ways to say prevailing?
Something that is prevailing is generally current. What’s the difference between prevailing, current, and prevalent? Find out on Thesaurus.com.Other Word Forms
- prevailingly adverb
- prevailingness noun
- unprevailing adjective
Etymology
Origin of prevailing
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.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the prevailing wisdom there is we better not endorse anybody, because we don’t want to tilt this one way or the other.”
From Los Angeles Times
"There is a tendency for anxious parents to become caught up in a prevailing media panic and see all adolescent brains as simply hardwired for social media addiction," he says.
From BBC
The prevailing wisdom, according to Mr. Hazzard, was: “You don’t bring the zombie apocalypse to a place that doesn’t have the zombies.”
These characteristics mean their profits could decline by less if one of the prevailing economic headwinds materializes in full, but it also means they have plenty of capacity to invest in the areas they need.
From Barron's
“We don’t believe that it’s less noble, but that’s what the prevailing culture believes,” he said.
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.
