Home › Glossary › Letter P

prevailing

Adjective
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Having superior strength or influence, enough to win or dominate; in poetry, this adjective describes forces, opinions, or moods that carry overriding authority, shaping the course of events.

Detailed Definition
In older or literary usage, prevailing can mean more than simply common or widespread. It can suggest a force that steadily overcomes resistance, which fits the poem's description of gentle but effective influence.
Example
Example in poetry:
“With gentle, yet prevailing, force” — William Wordsworth, “The Prelude”; “A mighty and prevailing wind” drives the rain across the field; Love is a prevailing current beneath the poem’s doubt; The prevailing light outlasts the storm clouds
Additional Notes
The phrase "gentle, yet prevailing, force" uses prevailing in a somewhat literary sense of overpowering or effective, which may not be immediately obvious.; Found in the poem, To a Young Lady by William Cowper
Also Known As
dominant prevailing force overarching commanding
Skip to main content