PREVAILING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Prevailing

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/prɪvˈeɪlɪŋ/ /privˈeɪlɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Prevail v. i. (past & past part. prevailed; pres. part. prevailing)

To overcome; to gain the victory or superiority; to gain the advantage; to have the upper hand, or the mastery; to succeed; sometimes with over or against. "When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed." "So David prevailed over the Philistine." "This kingdom could never prevail against the united power of England."

To be in force; to have effect, power, or influence; to be predominant; to have currency or prevalence; to obtain; as, the practice prevails this day. "This custom makes the short-sighted bigots, and the warier skeptics, as far as it prevails."

To persuade or induce; with on, upon, or with; as, I prevailedon him to wait. "He was prevailed with to restrain the Earl." "Prevail upon some judicious friend to be your constant hearer, and allow him the utmost freedom."

adjective

Prevailing adj.

Having superior force or influence; efficacious; persuasive. "Saints shall assist thee with prevailing prayers."

Predominant; prevalent; most general; as, the prevailing disease of a climate; a prevailing opinion.

Synonyms: Syn. See Prevalent.

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Etymology of 'Prevailing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Prevailing" Quotes from Famous Books

... months' wages. Owner of the mine got on a bender and paid everybody off by mistake. You can hardly imagine how this livened up things. There ain't nobody less likely to play lame-duck than me, but there was no dodging the hospitality. The only idea prevailing was to be rid of the money as soon as possible. The effects showed right off. You could hear one man telling the folks for their own good that he was the Old Missouri River, and when he felt like swelling his banks, it was time for parties ...

— Red Saunders • Henry Wallace Phillips

... the Accademia, and mused on the golden Venetian streets of Carpaccio: she must have an open gondola to decorate in his manner, gaily, splendidly, and mock at her efforts—a warning to all that might hope to improve the prevailing gloom and squalor by levying contributions upon the Merceria! Her most constant admiration was for the English lord who used once to ride on the Lido sands and visit the Armenian convent—a lord and ...

— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... together alone. The indisposition of which Mrs. Johnson had been complaining for several days, proved to be no light matter, and when next morning Dr. Rogers was summoned to her bedside, he decided it to be a fever which was then prevailing to some extent ...

— Bad Hugh • Mary Jane Holmes

... and Emma shrinking from him with averted face). The urchin's visage suddenly lighted up with a blaze of triumph, and he seized his cap as if about to cheer (that was the Doctor's superior strength prevailing, and Emma's head, now turned the other way, laid on his shoulder). All at once Gillie went into quiet convulsions, grinned from ear to ear, doubled himself up, slapped his thigh inaudibly—a la Captain Wopper—and otherwise ...

— Rivers of Ice • R.M. Ballantyne

... should the weather be hot. Every kernel should be taken out of all sorts of meat as soon as it is brought in, and then wiped dry. For roasting, it should hang as long as it will keep, the hind quarter especially, but not so long as to taint; for whatever may be authorised by the prevailing fashion, putrid juices certainly ought not to be taken into the stomach. Great care should be taken to preserve by paper the fat of what is roasted. Mutton for boiling will not look of a good colour, if it has hung ...

— The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, • Mary Eaton

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