# preponderance
## English
### Etymology

From preponderant +‎ -ance.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /pɹɪˈpɒndəɹəns/, /pɹɪˈpɒndɹəns/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /pɹəˈpɑndəɹəns/, /pɹəˈpɑndɹəns/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Hyphenation: pre‧pon‧der‧ance

### Noun

preponderance (countable and uncountable, plural preponderances)
* Superiority in amount or number; the bulk or majority; also, a large amount or number; an abundance, a profusion.
    Synonym: (obsolete) preponderancy
** 1857, R[obert] Harries Jones, “Part the Second”, in The Japhetic Races. A Historical and Ethnological Inquiry into the Consanguinity of Various European Races. […], Göttingen: Printed at the University Press by W. Fr. Kaestner, →OCLC, section II, page 36:[S]trong proofs are at hand to shew, that in the Irish people there is a large admixture, if not an overwhelming praeponderance, of Iberian elements.
** 1997 August 17, Patricia Holt, “Just add sand; trash fiction for end-of-the summer beach reading”, in San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, Calif.: Hearst Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1:Is there a preponderance of female protagonists in commercial fiction, and if so, what does it mean?
** 2000 April 17, Paul Van Slambrouck, “California’s brightest star is, well, gray”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎, Boston, Mass.: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC:Subtle, institutional discrimination was evident in the preponderance of blacks and underprivileged whites fighting the war.
* Superiority of influence, power, a quality, etc.; an outweighing, predominance, pre-eminence.
    Synonyms: (obsolete) preponderancy, preponderation
** 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 49:In a few weeks he [William III of England] had changed the relative position of all the states in Europe, and had restored the equilibrium which the preponderance of one power had destroyed.
** 1953, Sigmund Freud, “Distortion in Dreams”, in James Strachey, transl., The Interpretation of Dreams (First Part) (The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud), volume IV, London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, published 1971, →ISBN, page 134:But even less disgruntled observers have insisted that pain and unpleasure are more common in dreams than pleasure: for instance, Scholz (1893, 57), Volkelt (1875, 80), and others. Indeed two ladies, Florence Hallam and Sarah Weed (1896, 499), have actually given statistical expression, based on a study of their own dreams, to the preponderance of unpleasure in dreaming.
* (obsolete) Greater physical weight.
    Synonym: (obsolete) preponderancy
** (specifically, weaponry, historical) The excess of weight of that part of a cannon behind the trunnions over that in front of them.

#### Alternative forms

* praeponderance (obsolete, rare)
* præponderance (obsolete, rare)

#### Derived terms

* preponderance of evidence, preponderance of the evidence

#### Related terms

* preponder (obsolete)
* preponderancy (obsolete)
* preponderant
* preponderantly
* preponderate
* preponderately
* preponderating (adjective)
* preponderatingly
* preponderation
* prepondering (adjective)
* preponderous
* preponderously

#### Translations
### Further reading

* “preponderance”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
* “preponderance”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.