Join free

prevail

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

prevail

  • /pɹɪˈveɪl/ Canada, US, UK
  • /pɹɪˈvæɪl/ Australia
  • /pɹəˈvæɪl/ New Zealand

Rhymes with -eɪl

Where it comes from

From Middle English prevailen, from Old French prevaler, from Latin praevaleō (“be very able or more able, be superior, prevail”), from prae (“before”) + valeō (“be able or powerful”). Displaced native Old English rīcsian.

verb prevails · prevailing · prevailed · prævail · prævaile

  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.
  2. intransitive To triumph; to be victorious. There are a number of SCPs and tales that look at potential apocalypses, but rarely with such totality as SCP-2935, a parallel dimension in which death prevailed.
  3. intransitive To be current, widespread, or predominant; to have currency or prevalence. In his day and age, such practices prevailed all over Europe.
  4. intransitive, often, with upon or on To succeed in persuading or inducing. I prevailed on him to wait.
  5. obsolete, transitive To avail.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: predominate, obtain, triumph, dominate, endure, persist, hold, rule, run, die hard, reign, benefit, gain, avail, enforce, use

Translations

Every language

verb To be superior in strength, dominance, influence or frequency; to have or gain the advantage over others; to have the upper hand

Españolprevalecer, vencer
Portuguêsprevalecer, predominar
Françaisdominer, prévaloir, l'emporter
Deutschdie Vorherrschaft erringen (over über), sich durchsetzen, dominieren, überwiegen, obsiegen [jur.], siegen (über)
Italianoprevalere
Românăimpune
Русскийвосторжествовать vostoržestvovatʹ, одержать победу oderžatʹ pobedu, госпо́дствовать gospódstvovatʹ, доминировать dominirovatʹ
العربيةيسود yassod

verb To be current, widespread or predominant; to have currency or prevalence

Españolprevalecer
Portuguêsprevalecer, predominar
Françaisprédominer, prévaloir
Deutschvorherrschen, maßgebend sein, weit verbreitet sein
Italianopredominare
Românăpredomina
Русскийпреобладать preobladatʹ, госпо́дствовать gospódstvovatʹ, превалировать prevalirovatʹ, доминировать dominirovatʹ

verb To succeed in persuading or inducing

Françaispersuader
Deutschüberzeugen können, überzeugen, überreden
Italianopersuadere
Русскийубеди́ть ubedítʹ, уговори́ть ugovorítʹ

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"prevail." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/prevail. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

prevail. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/prevail

Chicago

"prevail." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/prevail.

BibTeX
@misc{prevail_2026,
  title = {prevail},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/prevail},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}