Prevail

//pɹɪˈveɪl// verb

verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To be superior in strength, dominance, influence, or frequency; to have or gain the advantage over others; to have the upper hand; to outnumber others. intransitive

    "Red colour prevails in the Canadian flag."

  2. 2
    use persuasion successfully wordnet
  3. 3
    To triumph; to be victorious. intransitive

    "There are a number of SCPs and tales that look at potential apocalypses, but rarely with such totality as SCP-2935, a parallel dimension in which death prevailed."

  4. 4
    prove superior wordnet
  5. 5
    To be current, widespread, or predominant; to have currency or prevalence. intransitive

    "In his day and age, such practices prevailed all over Europe."

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    be larger in number, quantity, power, status or importance wordnet
  2. 7
    To succeed in persuading or inducing. intransitive, often

    "I prevailed on him to wait."

  3. 8
    continue to exist wordnet
  4. 9
    To avail. obsolete, transitive
  5. 10
    be valid, applicable, or true wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
predominateabideaboundabyaffectargue into

Example

More examples

"We must prevail against our rivals by all means."

Etymology

From Middle English prevailen, from Old French prevaler, from Latin praevaleō (“be very able or more able, be superior, prevail”), from prae (“before”) + valeō (“be able or powerful”). Displaced native Old English rīcsian.

Related phrases

cool heads must prevailcool heads prevailcool heads will prevailcooler heads must prevailcooler heads prevailcooler heads will prevailprevail upon

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.