prævale

A form of prevail — To be superior in strength, dominance, influence, or frequency; to have or gain the advantage over others; to have the upper hand; to outnumber others.

Meanings

verbprævale (third-person singular simple present prævales, present participle prævaling or prævaleing, simple past and past participle prævaled)

present singular third person prævales · participle present prævaling · participle present prævaleing · participle past prævaled · past prævaled

  1. obsoleteObsolete form of prevail.

    In the tyme of William Rufus, the Pope attempted to drawe appeales to Rome but prævaled.

    1607, “Conviction and Attainder of Robert Lalor”, in Catholic Record Society Publications, published 1965, page 177
    2 more examples

    […]; if peradventure that mai prævale and be proper for this daie and time wee liv in;[…]: which ſeem to mee to call for and to have already prævaled with, ſeveral faln Angels to mingl with them and becom their Coadjutors and Coagitators;[…]I cannot prævale with mi ſelf to becom a Counſeller to you to adviſe you, as yet, to drink of theſe Aquas vitæ cœleſtes:[…]

    1683, J[ohn] P[ordage], Theologia Mystica, or The Mystic Divinitie of the Æternal Invisibles, Viz. the Archetypous Globe, or the Original Globe, or World of All Globes, Worlds, Essences, Centers, Elements, Principles and Creations Whatsoever, London, pages 24, 63, and 111

    And (to the honor of the chriſtians of the præſent age, and of our own nation, be it ſpoken!) there never was a time, or place, where chriſtianity was the prævaleing religion, that ſuch perſons could have had more liberty to do their utmoſt, to overthrow the truth and genuineneſſe of the ſacred writeings;[…]The power of truth was great, and did prævale.[…]; but that, in all other caſes, where there was prævaleing evidence, the argument would hold, though not ſo ſtrongly: that rational chriſtians apprehend that there is prævaleing, and abundant, evidence, of the truth of chriſtianity;[…]But, ſuppoſe a man hath been educated, in a country, where the true religion prævales;

    1759, George Benson, The Reasonablenesse of the Christian Religion, as Delivered in the Scriptures, the third edition, volume the first, London: […] J. Waugh, […]; and W. Fenner, […], pages 131, 136, 177, and 183
Cite this entry
APA

prævale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pr%C3%A6vale

MLA

“prævale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pr%C3%A6vale. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prævale,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pr%C3%A6vale.

Source: prævale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.