PREVALENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prevalent mean? 

• PREVALENT (adjective)
  The adjective PREVALENT has 1 sense:

1. most frequent or common

  Familiarity information: PREVALENT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PREVALENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Most frequent or common

Synonyms:

dominant; predominant; prevailing; prevalent; rife

Context example:

prevailing winds

Similar:

frequent (coming at short intervals or habitually)

Derivation:

prevail (continue to exist)

prevalence (the quality of prevailing generally; being widespread)

 Context examples 

Bacteria are prevalent in lakes and soil where there is a delicate balance of organisms.

(Nanoparticles may have bigger impact on the environment than previously thought, National Science Foundation)

But colds were never so prevalent as they have been this autumn.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

That is why red meat allergies tend to be more common where these ticks are more prevalent.

(Researchers have found a link between allergen in red meat and heart disease, National Institutes of Health)

I need not say how rejoiced I shall be to hear there has been any mistake, but the report is so prevalent that I confess I cannot help trembling.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

A rare transmissible encephalopathy most prevalent between the ages of 50 and 70 years.

(Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Despite compelling statistics we still do not understand biochemically why heart defects are so prevalent.

(NFAT Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

Along with rising ocean temperatures, these conditions lead to more prevalent, more toxic, and longer-lasting blooms and domoic acid production.

(Scientists discover genetic basis for how harmful algae blooms become toxic, National Science Foundation)

The researchers found that the protein, SPINK7, was nearly absent in esophageal biopsies taken from adults and children with active EoE but was prevalent in biopsies from healthy people.

(Eosinophilic esophagitis may be due to missing protein, National Institutes of Health)

I found as prevalent a fashion in the form of the penitence, as I had left outside in the forms of the coats and waistcoats in the windows of the tailors' shops.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You appear to be entering into an enchantingly social period, one that could offer a welcome, breezy balance to the strong career emphasis so prevalent in November.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)