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prevailing

   Also found in: Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.02 sec.
pre·vail·ing  (pr-vlng)
adj.
1. Most frequent or common; predominant.
2. Generally current; widespread.

pre·vailing·ly adv.
pre·vailing·ness n.
Synonyms: prevailing, prevalent, current
These adjectives denote what exists or is encountered generally at a particular time. Prevailing applies to what is most frequent or common at a certain time or in a certain place: took a poll to find the prevailing opinion.
Prevalent suggests widespread existence or occurrence but does not imply predominance: a belief that was prevalent in the Middle Ages.
Current often stresses the present time and is frequently applied to what is subject to frequent change: current psychoanalytic theories.

prevailing
Adjective
1. widespread: the prevailing mood
2. most usual: the prevailing wind is from the west
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Adj.1.prevailing - most frequent or common; "prevailing winds"
frequent - coming at short intervals or habitually; "a frequent guest"; "frequent complaints"

prevailing
Translations
Spanish prevailing [prɪˈveɪlɪŋ] adj (= dominant) → predominante
French prevailing [prɪˈveɪlɪŋ] prevail adj (= widespread) → courant(e)répandu(e); [wind] → dominant(e)
German prevailing [prɪˈveɪlɪŋ] prevail adj [wind, fashion etc] → vorherrschend
Italian prevailing [prɪˈveɪlɪŋ] adjdominante

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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
A few months ago I was at the old home, and I read that book again, after not looking at it for more than thirty years; and I read it with amazement at its prevailing artistic vulgarity, its prevailing aesthetic error shot here and there with gleams of light, and of the truth that Reade himself was always dimly groping for.
Not that I am an advocate for the prevailing fashion of acquiring a perfect knowledge of all languages, arts, and sciences.
As coal is said to abound in all that region, and wells are generally successful, the enterprise of the emigrants is gradually prevailing against these difficulties.
 
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