prevail
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /pɹɪˈveɪl/
Verb

prevail (prevails, present participle prevailing; past and past participle prevailed)

  1. (intransitive) 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.
    Red colour prevails in the Canadian flag.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗:
      , Exodus 17:11
      And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
  2. (intransitive) To be current, widespread or predominant; to have currency or prevalence.
    In his day and age, such practices prevailed all over Europe.
  3. (intransitive) To succeed in persuading or inducing.
    I prevailed on him to wait.
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To avail.
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