Word of the Day

: January 18, 2021

preeminent

adjective pree-EM-uh-nunt

What It Means

1 : exhibiting eminence especially in standing above others in some quality or position : prominent

2 : standing out so as to be readily perceived or noted : conspicuous

3 : jutting out : projecting

preeminent in Context

"Over the course of 80 years, Chuck Norris has done it all. He served in the military before becoming one of the most universally recognized martial artists of all time, and his skills led to a successful career in films, beginning with a legendary battle against the great Bruce Lee in the iconic action movie, Way of the Dragon, before becoming one of the preeminent action heroes of the 1980s." — Zak Wojnar, Screen Rant, 4 Dec. 2020

"[Georgia] ranked 10th in tech employment nationally, is a hub of Black tech entrepreneurship, and is home to a cluster of a major academic centers, including Georgia Tech and Emory University, as well as Morehouse and Spelman, two preeminent HBCUs who have made significant contributions to educating underrepresented communities." — Bhaskar Chakravorti, Harvard Business Review, 4 Dec. 2020

Did You Know?

What is noteworthy about the following sentence? "Denali Mountain is a prominent eminence on the Alaskan landscape." You very likely recognized two words that are closely related to preeminent: prominent and eminence. All three words are rooted in the Latin verb stem -minēre, meaning "to stand out." Mount is also a related word: it comes from Latin mont- or mons, meaning "mountain," which shares a common ancestor with -minēre. Mount leads us in turn to paramount, a word closely related in meaning to preeminent.