Prevailing

//pɹɪˈveɪ.lɪŋ// adj, verb

adj, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of prevail form-of, gerund, participle, present
Adjective
  1. 1
    Predominant; of greatest force.

    "The prevailing opinion was for additional planning time."

  2. 2
    Prevalent, common, widespread.

    "Fever and dysentery are the most prevailing diseases in this division, more particularly the latter, which is one of the most destructive amongst the troops in India, and particularly so in the European constitution."

Adjective
  1. 1
    most frequent or common wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
predominantaboundingabundantaccidentalaccompanyingaccustomed

Example

More examples

"Bad cold is prevailing throughout the country."

Etymology

By surface analysis, prevail + -ing.

Related phrases

prevailing partyprevailing wind

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