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Webster 1913 Edition


Preponderate

Pre-pon′der-ate

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Preponderated
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Preponderating
.]
[L.
praeponderatus
, p. p. of
praeponderare
;
prae
before +
ponderare
to weigh, fr.,
pondus
,
ponderis
, a weight. See
Ponder
.]
1.
To outweigh; to overpower by weight; to exceed in weight; to overbalance.
An inconsiderable weight, by distance from the center of the balance, will
preponderate
greater magnitudes.
Glanvill.
2.
To overpower by stronger or moral power.
3.
To cause to prefer; to incline; to decide.
[Obs.]
The desire to spare Christian blood
preponderates
him for peace.
Fuller.

Pre-pon′der-ate

,
Verb.
I.
To exceed in weight; hence, to incline or descend, as the scale of a balance; figuratively, to exceed in influence, power, etc.; hence; to incline to one side;
as, the affirmative side
preponderated
.
That is no just balance in which the heaviest side will not
preponderate
.
Bp. Wilkins.

Webster 1828 Edition


Preponderate

PREPOND'ERATE

,
Verb.
T.
[L. proepondero; proe, before, and pondero, to weigh.]
1.
To outweigh; to overpower by weight.
An inconsiderable weight, by distance from the center of the balance, will preponderate greater magnitudes.
2.
To overpower by stronger influence or moral power.

PREPOND'ERATE

,
Verb.
I.
To exceed in weight; hence, to incline or descend, as the scale of a balance.
That is no just balance in which the heaviest side will not preponderate.
1.
To exceed in influence or power; hence, to incline to one side.
By putting every argument on one side and the other, into the balance, we must form a judgment which side preponderates.

Definition 2024


preponderate

preponderate

English

Verb

preponderate (third-person singular simple present preponderates, present participle preponderating, simple past and past participle preponderated)

  1. (transitive) To outweigh; to overpower by weight; to exceed in weight; to overbalance.
    • Glanvill
      An inconsiderable weight, by distance from the centre of the balance, will preponderate greater magnitudes.
  2. (transitive) To overpower by stronger or moral power.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To cause to prefer; to incline; to decide.
    • Fuller
      The desire to spare Christian blood preponderates him for peace.
  4. (intransitive) To exceed in weight; hence, to predominate
    • 1861, John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism:
      [] if the principle of utility is good for anything, it must be good for weighing these conflicting utilities against one another, and marking out the region within which one or the other preponderates.

Related terms

References

  • preponderate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • preponderate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911