Prevalent
adj, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A species that is prevalent in a certain area.
"The species I found to be most prevalent on the Spring Green study site were compared with lists of prevalents in compositionally related communities of Wisconsin developed by Curtis (1959)."
- 1 Widespread or preferred.
"Athletes' use of herbal supplements has skyrocketed in the past two decades. At the top of the list of popular herbs are echinacea and ginseng, whereas garlic, St. John's wort, soybean, ephedra and others are also surging in popularity or have been historically prevalent."
- 2 Superior in frequency or dominant.
"Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today."
- 1 most frequent or common wordnet
Example
More examples"It is a prevalent belief, according to a nationwide poll in the United States, that Muslims are linked with terrorism."
Etymology
From Latin praevalēns. By surface analysis, pre- + -valent.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.