Meanings
comparative more prevalent · superlative most prevalent · alternative prævalent · alternative prevailent
- Widespread or preferred.
Athletes' use of herbal supplements has skyrocketed in the past two decades. At the top of the list of popular herbs are echinacea and ginseng, whereas garlic, St. John's wort, soybean, ephedra and others are also surging in popularity or have been historically prevalent.
2013 March 28, David S. Senchina, “Athletics and Herbal Supplements”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 2, archived from the original on 16 May 2013, page 134Synonyms: common
- Superior in frequency or dominant.
1 more example
Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70
plural prevalents · alternative prævalent · alternative prevailent
- biologyA species that is prevalent in a certain area.
The species I found to be most prevalent on the Spring Green study site were compared with lists of prevalents in compositionally related communities of Wisconsin developed by Curtis (1959).
1983, Donna K. McBain, Influence of Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus Virginiana L.) on Soil Properties and Vegetative Composition of a Sand Prairie in Southwestern Wisconsin, page 26
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveWidespread or preferred.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivemost frequent or common
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinpraevalēns
- Englishprevalent
From Latin praevalēns. By surface analysis, pre- + -valent.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic مُنْتَشِر
- مُنْتَشِر (muntašir)widespread, preferred
Bulgarian преобладаващ, широко разпространен
- преобладаващ (preobladavašt)widespread, preferred
- широко разпространен (široko razprostranen)widespread, preferred
- господстващ (gospodstvašt)superior in frequency or dominant
Chinese Mandarin 廣泛 /广泛, 流行
- 廣泛 /广泛 (guǎngfàn)widespread, preferred
- 流行 (liúxíng)widespread, preferred
- 普遍 (pǔbiàn)widespread, preferred
- 盛行 (shèngxíng)widespread, preferred
Czech převládající
- převládajícíwidespread, preferred
Dutch heersend, wijdverspreid
- heersendwidespread, preferred
- wijdverspreidwidespread, preferred
- overwegendsuperior in frequency or dominant
- overheersendsuperior in frequency or dominant
Finnish vallitseva
- vallitsevawidespread, preferred
French répandu, prévalent
- répanduwidespread, preferred
- prévalentsuperior in frequency or dominant
German beherrschend, maßgeblich
- beherrschendwidespread, preferred
- maßgeblichwidespread, preferred
- vorherrschendwidespread, preferred
- (weit) verbreitetwidespread, preferred
- überwiegendsuperior in frequency or dominant
- vorherrschendsuperior in frequency or dominant
- beherrschendsuperior in frequency or dominant
Greek επικρατών
- επικρατών (epikratón)widespread, preferred
Hungarian általános, domináns
- általánoswidespread, preferred
- dominánswidespread, preferred
- elterjedtwidespread, preferred
- egyetemeswidespread, preferred
- meghatározówidespread, preferred
- túlsúlyban lévőwidespread, preferred
Italian imminente, incalzante
- imminentewidespread, preferred
- incalzantewidespread, preferred
- predominantewidespread, preferred
- prevalentesuperior in frequency or dominant
Japanese 繁栄する
- 繁栄する (han'ei suru)widespread, preferred
Korean 번영하다
- 번영하다 (beonyeonghada)widespread, preferred
Norwegian Bokmål utbredt, rådende
- utbredtwidespread, preferred
- rådendewidespread, preferred
- herskendewidespread, preferred
- rådendesuperior in frequency or dominant
- fremherskendesuperior in frequency or dominant
Portuguese predominante, prevalente
- predominantewidespread, preferred
- prevalentesuperior in frequency or dominant
Romanian prevalent, preponderent
- prevalentwidespread, preferred
- preponderentwidespread, preferred
Russian преоблада́ющий, распространённый
- преоблада́ющий (preobladájuščij)widespread, preferred
- распространённый (rasprostranjónnyj)widespread, preferred
Spanish dominante, mayoritario
- dominantewidespread, preferred
- mayoritariowidespread, preferred
- prevalentesuperior in frequency or dominant
- predominantesuperior in frequency or dominant
Swedish utbredd, spridd
- utbreddwidespread, preferred
- spriddwidespread, preferred
- vedertagenwidespread, preferred
- gängsewidespread, preferred
Turkish her yerde bulunan
- her yerde bulunanwidespread, preferred
Ukrainian поширений, переважаючий
- поширений (pošyrenyj)widespread, preferred
- переважаючий (perevažajučyj)superior in frequency or dominant
- переважний (perevažnyj)superior in frequency or dominant
Vietnamese phổ biến, thông thường
- phổ biếnwidespread, preferred
- thông thườngwidespread, preferred
- thông dụngwidespread, preferred
- thịnh hànhwidespread, preferred
- thường gặpsuperior in frequency or dominant
- thường thấysuperior in frequency or dominant
- thông thườngsuperior in frequency or dominant
- thông dụngsuperior in frequency or dominant
Cite this entry
prevalent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prevalent
“prevalent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prevalent. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “prevalent,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/prevalent.
Source: prevalent on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.