What does predominant mean?
Word: Predominant
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Predominant means stronger, larger or more noticeable than anything else in a group.
How do you spell predominant?
Syllables: pre - dom - i - nant
Tricky part: The ending is ant, not ent. The weak last syllable gives no clue to its vowel, so the ear is no help here.
Watch out for: predominent, predominint, predominet
Memory tip: Picture one huge ant marching ahead of a line of tiny insects: the biggest one stands out, and it closes the word.
Predominant in a sentence
Example 1: Blue is the predominant shade in the paintings of the Greek islands.
Example 2: Bamboo is the predominant plant on these hillsides in Mizoram.
Example 3: Excitement was the predominant mood in the bus on the morning of the school trip.
Fun Fact
Nitrogen is the predominant gas in the air around us, making up about 78 per cent of it, while oxygen makes up about 21 per cent.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Only one of these words takes the prefix pre to make a real word. Choose it.
pre
a) gentle
b) careful
c) dominant
d) patient
Show answer
c) dominant. Put pre in front of dominant and a real word appears; careful, gentle and patient make none.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose what it means.
1. predominant 2. conspicous 3. magnificant 4. sufficent
a) very easy to see or notice
b) as much as is needed for a purpose
c) extremely grand and impressive to look at
d) greater in number or strength than all the rest
Show answer
d) greater in number or strength than all the rest. The other three slip: sufficient needs an i before the e, magnificent wants ent and conspicuous keeps its u.
Mingle-Mangle
The jumbled word in the sentence hides a real word. Choose it:
The ntdnapierom sound in the old bazaar each morning is the cry of the mango sellers.
a) pertinent
b) prominent
c) predominant
d) predatory
Show answer
c) predominant. Only one option has a d and two n's: prominent and pertinent have no d, and predatory has no n.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word predominant as used in the sentence:
Teamwork was the predominant theme of the coach's speech on sports day.
a) main
b) rare
c) mixed
d) minor
Show answer
a) main. The colour you notice above all others is the main one.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Forty pupils were asked which language they speak at home. Which result makes English the predominant language?
a) English 31, French 5, Spanish 4
b) English 4, French 5, Spanish 31
c) English 5, French 31, Spanish 4
d) English 13, French 13, Spanish 14
Show answer
a) English 31, French 5, Spanish 4
2. A report says that rice is the predominant crop of a district. What can you safely conclude?
a) Rice grows there for only one month a year
b) Farmers there have stopped planting any rice
c) Other crops cannot be grown there at all
d) More land grows rice there than any other crop
Show answer
d) More land grows rice there than any other crop
