Standard Lemma guide

preeminence

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: /pɹiˈɛ.mɪˌnəns/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P R IY0 EH1 M AH0 N AH0 N S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The status of being preeminent, dominant or ascendant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: primacy

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

High importance; superiority.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

high status importance owing to marked superiority

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a scholar of great eminence

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: eminence, distinction, note

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: high status

Narrower terms: king

History

Etymology

From Latin praeēminēntia.

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: تَقَدُّم (taqaddum) — status of being preeminent
  • Catalan: preeminència — status of being preeminent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 優越性 /优越性 (yōuyuèxìng) — status of being preeminent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 卓越 (zhuóyuè) — status of being preeminent
  • Finnish: etevämmyys — status of being preeminent
  • Finnish: paremmuus — status of being preeminent
  • French: prééminence — status of being preeminent
  • Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌿𐌼𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌹 (frumadei) — status of being preeminent
  • Italian: preminenza — status of being preeminent
  • Latin: praeēminēntia — status of being preeminent
  • Old English: æþelu — status of being preeminent
  • Persian: تقدم (taqaddom) — status of being preeminent
  • Portuguese: preeminência — status of being preeminent
  • Romanian: preeminență — status of being preeminent
  • Spanish: preeminencia — status of being preeminent
  • Spanish: prestancia — status of being preeminent
  • Chinese Mandarin: 重要性 (zhòngyàoxìng) — high importance
  • Finnish: ylemmyys — high importance
  • Spanish: preeminencia — high importance