preeminent

adjective

pre·​em·​i·​nent prē-ˈe-mə-nənt 

: having paramount rank, dignity, or importance : outstanding, supreme

preeminently adverb

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.

Synonyms

• arch
• big
• capital
• cardinal
• central
• chief
• dominant
• first
• foremost
• grand
• great
• greatest
• highest
• key
• leading
• main
• master
• number one
• No. 1
• numero uno
• overbearing
• overmastering
• overriding
• paramount
• predominant
• premier
• primal
• primary
• principal
• prior
• sovereign
• sovran
• supreme

Examples of preeminent in a Sentence

She's the preeminent chef in a city that has many good ones.

The poem is a preeminent example of his work.

Recent Examples on the Web

Buying into two of sports’ preeminent franchises in one week probably wasn’t by design for Sixth Street, but the private equity firm has announced itself as a major player in sports investing by securing stakes in both the Boston Celtics and San Francisco Giants. —Brendan Coffey, Sportico.com, 20 Mar. 2025

As the Internet becomes more equipped with capabilities, Bitcoin, as the world's preeminent digital currency, will stand to benefit. —Roger Huang, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025

Bezos now controls one of the world’s largest tech companies, one of the world’s largest streaming services in Prime Video, one of the world’s preeminent news organizations The Washington Post, and even a company sending rockets into space and satellites into orbit, Blue Origin. —Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Feb. 2025

Hsiung’s artful oversharing is, unsurprisingly, inspired by Taylor Swift, the preeminent artful oversharer of our time. —Tony Sachs, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Late Latin praeeminent-, praeeminens, from Latin, present participle of praeeminēre to be outstanding, from prae- + eminēre to stand out — more at eminent

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for preeminent

• eminent
• remanent

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Kids Definition

preeminent

adjective

pre·​em·​i·​nent prē-ˈem-ə-nənt 

: having supreme rank, dignity, or importance : outstanding

preeminently adverb