prevailing Hear it!

prevailing Definition

pre·vail·ing (-iŋ-)

adjective

  1. superior in strength, influence, or effect
  2. most frequent, noticeable, etc.; predominant
  3. widely existing; prevalent

prevailing Related Forms

pre·vail′·ingly adverb

prevailing Synonyms

prevailing

modif.

prevalent, general, current, rife, popular, common, regular, steady, predominant, dominant, universal, worldwide, sweeping, comprehensive, widespread, rampant, ruling, chief, principal, usual; see also common 1.

prevailing applies to that which leads all others in acceptance, usage, belief, etc. at a given time and in a given place a prevailing practice; current refers to that which is commonly accepted or in general usage at the time specified or, if unspecified, at the present time a pronunciation current in the 18th century; prevalent implies widespread occurrence or acceptance but does not now connote the predominance of prevailinga prevalent belief; rife implies rapidly increasing prevalence and often connotes excitement or alarm rumors about war were rife

prevailing Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • orthodoxy: There is however a prevailing economic orthodoxy which purports to draw the safety limits of safe government borrowing.
  • wind: The prevailing wind is from the north with sea breezes from the south.
  • mood: The second National Charter Petition reflects the prevailing mood.
  • paradigm: Or maybe we are about to discover something new about how the body works, which we can integrate with the prevailing paradigm.
  • wisdom: Contrary to recent prevailing wisdom, this includes natural animal fats.

Modifying Another Word

  • currently: By the end of the call either this listener will be registered with a currently prevailing hub, or an exception will be thrown.
  • then: Training at the premises of CA will be at the then prevailing list price.
  • generally: Before 6 April 1995, we consider that there was a generally prevailing practice that jack-up rigs were not ships.
  • now: Given the anomalies emerging from policies associated with the now prevailing vocabulary, what ' refurnishing of the house of language ' is possible?