predominant

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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World English Dictionary

predominant (prɪˈdɒmɪnənt)

—*adj*
1.	having superiority in power, influence, etc, over others
2.	prevailing; prominent

pre'dominance

—n

pre'dominancy

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

predominant

1576, from M.Fr. prédominant (14c.), from M.L. *prædominantem, prp. of *prædominare, from L. præ- "before" + dominari "to rule" (see dominate). The verb predominate is attested from 1594.

Example sentences

The award of honours in exchange for donations to royal causes made the

monarchy the predominant fount of charity.

Where taxpayers' dollars are the predominant injection of cash, cost control

takes a back seat.

The latter were often so predominant in ragtime that entire melody lines might

be constructed out of repeated syncopated figures.

The predominant view holds that a group of tarsierlike creatures known as the

omomyiforms spawned the anthropoids.

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Matching Quote

"We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will, therefore, always act rationally; or, because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially in pursuit of it. No, we are complicated machines; and though we have one main spring that gives motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels, which, in their turns, retard, precipitate, and sometime stop that motion."

-Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, 4th Earl