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dominant

adjective

  1. having power over others
L10832 on Wikidata ↗

noun

  1. fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale, between the subdominant and the submediant
  2. role in a BDSM relationship
L319695 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈdɒmɪnənt/ / /ˈdɑmənənt/ / /ˈdɔmɪnənt/

adj

Etymology: Etymology tree Middle French dominantbor. English dominant Borrowed from Middle French dominant.

  1. Ruling; governing; prevailing

    The dominant party controlled the government.

    The member of a dominant race is, in his dealings with the subject race, seldom indeed fraudulent, […] but imperious, insolent, and cruel.

  2. Predominant, common, prevalent, of greatest importance.

    The dominant plants of the Carboniferous were lycopods and early conifers.

    All other elements are mere "impurities" when their abundances are compared with those of these two dominant elements.

  3. Preferred and used with greater dexterity than the other, as the right hand of a right-handed person or the left hand of a left-handed one.
  4. Designating the follicle which will survive atresia and permit ovulation.
  5. Being the dominant

    Dominant seventh

noun

Etymology: Etymology tree Middle French dominantbor. English dominant Borrowed from Middle French dominant.

  1. The fifth major tone of a musical scale (five major steps above the note in question); thus G is the dominant of C, A of D, and so on.
  2. The triad built on the dominant tone.
  3. Of an allele, that a heterozygote for the allele has the same phenotype as the homozygote.

    Finally, if we suppose provisionally that the mutant genes are dominant just as often as they are recessive, selection will be far more severe in eliminating the disadvantageous dominants than in eliminating the disadvantageous recessives.

  4. A species or organism that is dominant.

    Landowners cannot afford to cut submerchantable trees, yet many hesitate to cut merchantable dominants and codominants at the risk of downgrading the residual stand.

  5. The dominating partner in sadomasochistic sexual activity.

    This calendar is not for the faint of heart (unless you have some strong butch dominant to hold you while you swoon)

    His story was a fable you told dominants in training to stress the importance of comprehending the depths of your submissive's needs.