preponderance
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /pɹɪˈpɒndəɹəns/
ipa: /pɹɪˈpɒndɹəns/
ipa: /pɹəˈpɑndəɹəns/
ipa: /pɹəˈpɑndɹəns/
Forms: form: preponderances
form: praeponderance
form: præponderance
Etymology: From preponderant + -ance.
Senses: examples: text: [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.
ref: 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:
text: Is there a preponderance of female protagonists in commercial fiction, and if so, what does it mean?
ref: 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:
text: Subtle, institutional discrimination was evident in the preponderance of blacks and underprivileged whites fighting the war.
ref: 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:
synonyms: weight
glosses: Superiority in amount or number; the bulk or majority; also, a large amount or number; an abundance, a profusion.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
synonyms: word: preponderancy
word: preponderation
glosses: Superiority of influence, power, a quality, etc.; an outweighing, predominance, pre-eminence.
synonyms: word: preponderancy
glosses: Greater physical weight.
topics: engineering
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
tools
war
weaponry
synonyms: word: preponderancy
glosses: Greater physical weight.
The excess of weight of that part of a cannon behind the trunnions over that in front of them.
Derived terms: preponderance of evidence
preponderance of the evidence
Related terms: word: preponder
word: preponderancy
word: preponderant
word: preponderantly
word: preponderate
word: preponderately
word: preponderating
word: preponderatingly
word: preponderation
word: prepondering
word: preponderous
word: preponderously