dominant

plural dominants

1. entertainmentThe fifth major tone of a musical scale (five major steps above the note in question); thus G is the dominant of C, A of D, and so on.
2. entertainmentThe triad built on the dominant tone.
3. biologyOf an allele, that a heterozygote for the allele has the same phenotype as the homozygote.

   Finally, if we suppose provisionally that the mutant genes are dominant just as often as they are recessive, selection will be far more severe in eliminating the disadvantageous dominants than in eliminating the disadvantageous recessives.

   1930, R. A. Fisher, J. H. Bennett, The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, page 50

4. A species or organism that is dominant.

   Landowners cannot afford to cut submerchantable trees, yet many hesitate to cut merchantable dominants and codominants at the risk of downgrading the residual stand.

   1966, John R. Bassett, Thinning loblolly pine from above and below, New Orleans, La: Southern Forest Experiment Station

5. BDSMThe dominating partner in sadomasochistic sexual activity.

   This calendar is not for the faint of heart (unless you have some strong butch dominant to hold you while you swoon)

   1988 December 25, Wickie Stamps, “Leather, Peace and Wombyn over Forty”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 24, page 7

   1 more example

   His story was a fable you told dominants in training to stress the importance of comprehending the depths of your submissive's needs.

   2011, Jayne Rylon, Mistress's Master, page 65

   Antonyms: submissive

comparative more dominant · superlative most dominant

1. Ruling; governing; prevailing

   The dominant party controlled the government.

   1 more example

   The member of a dominant race is, in his dealings with the subject race, seldom indeed fraudulent, […] but imperious, insolent, and cruel.

   1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC

   Synonyms: imposing

2. Predominant, common, prevalent, of greatest importance.

   The dominant plants of the Carboniferous were lycopods and early conifers.

   2 more examples

   All other elements are mere "impurities" when their abundances are compared with those of these two dominant elements.

   2009, H. Stephen Stoker, General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, page 10

   It's the water that makes this area famous. […] That water is still being used to supply Blackford's two dominant industries, Tullibardine whisky distillery to the south of the village and, more significantly, Highland Spring Group's bottling plant to the north.

   2023 December 27, Richard Foster, “New rail freight terminal leads the way”, in RAIL, number 999, page 38

   Synonyms: prevalent

3. anatomyOf a body part, preferred and used with greater dexterity than the other, as the right hand of a right-handed person or the left hand of a left-handed one.
4. medicineDesignating the follicle which will survive atresia and permit ovulation.
5. entertainmentBeing the dominant

   Dominant seventh