What does prevalent mean?
Word: Prevalent
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Prevalent means found or happening very often in a particular place or at a particular time.
How do you spell prevalent?
Syllables: prev - a - lent
Tricky part: The two weak vowels after the v are the problem. The a and the e are hard to hear, so pupils swap them.
Watch out for: prevalant, prevelent, prevelant
Memory tip: In any class, a lent pencil is a prevalent sight, and the five closing letters are a lent.
Prevalent in a sentence
Example 1: Scooters are prevalent on the narrow roads of Rome.
Example 2: Sea breezes are prevalent along this coast in the afternoon.
Example 3: That style of school bag was prevalent when my parents were young.
Fun Fact
Prevalent comes from a Latin verb meaning 'to be stronger', and the English verb prevail comes from the same source.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
prevvalent
a) r
b) t
c) v
d) l
Show answer
c) v. The v is not doubled in this word.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word prevalent as used in the sentence:
Long afternoon naps are still prevalent in this quiet hill town.
a) rare
b) widespread
c) general
d) frequent
Show answer
a) rare. Something rare is seldom seen, the reverse of a habit found all over town.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Terracotta roofs are tarpevenl in the old lanes of Panaji.
a) relevant
b) prevalent
c) pleasant
d) prudent
Show answer
b) prevalent. Only one option uses a p, a v and two e's together: relevant lacks a p, pleasant a v and prudent a v as well.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word in the list.
1. abundent 2. vigilent 3. persistant 4. prevalent
a) present in very large amounts
b) carefully watching out for trouble
c) continuing firmly without giving up
d) seen or met with in most places at that time
Show answer
d) seen or met with in most places at that time. Vigilant and abundant want ant and persistent wants ent, so the remaining word is the one to define.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A survey finds that cycling is prevalent in a town. What would you expect to see there?
a) a long queue for the town bus
b) one bicycle in the town museum
c) a notice banning all bicycles
d) bicycles on almost every road
Show answer
d) bicycles on almost every road
2. Why might a writer call text messaging prevalent among teenagers?
a) Most teenagers send messages every single day
b) Teenagers write paper letters in place of texts
c) Very few teenagers have ever owned a phone
d) Phones are sold only to much older adults
Show answer
a) Most teenagers send messages every single day
