See also: prépondérance
- præponderance (rare, archaic)
- Excess or superiority of weight, influence, or power, etc.; an outweighing.
- In a few weeks he had changed the relative position of all the states in Europe, and had restored the equilibrium which the preponderance of one power had destroyed.
2000 April 17, Paul Van Slambrouck, “Californias brightest star is, well, gray”, in Christian Science Monitor:
- Subtle, institutional discrimination was evident in the preponderance of blacks and underprivileged whites fighting the war.
- 1900, Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Avon Books, (translated by James Strachey) pg. 168:
- But even less disgruntled observers have insisted that pain and un-pleasure 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) The excess of weight of that part of a cannon behind the trunnions over that in front of them.
- The greater portion of the weight.
2006 January 24, Scott Baldauf, “India history spat hits US”, in Christian Science Monitor:
- the preponderance of evidence shows that Aryans came to India, with their horses, their chariots, and their religious beliefs, from outside.
- The majority.
1997 August 17, Patricia Holt, “Just Add Sand; Trash fiction for end-of-the summer beach reading”, in San Francisco Chronicle, page 1:
- Is there a preponderance of female protagonists in commercial fiction, and if so, what does it mean?
state of being preponderant