prevail
Syllables: pre·vailUK/pɹɪˈveɪl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/pɹɪˈvæɪl/
prevail verb: 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.
Verb
prevail (third-person singular simple present prevails, present participle prevailing, simple past and past participle prevailed)
- 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.
- Sunny skies will prevail across the Northeast.
- 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.2019 January 14, “Exploring the SCP Foundation: SCP-2935 - O, Death” (0:36 from the start), in The Exploring Series, archived from the original on 25 Mar 2023
- Zakharova also made light of Moore’s claims that Russia will not be able to regain momentum in the war after the MI6 chief said he was”optimistic”^([sic]) Ukraine would prevail against the Russian invasion.2023 July 19, Nick Paton Walsh and Katharina Krebs, “MI6 chief makes open plea to Russians to spy for UK”, in CNN
- To be current, widespread, or predominant; to have currency or prevalence.
- In his day and age, such practices prevailed all over Europe.
- To succeed in persuading or inducing.
- I prevailed on him to wait.
- Jones began to be very importunate with the lady to unmask; and at length having prevailed, there appeared not Mrs Fitzpatrick, but the Lady Bellaston herself.1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
- To avail.
prevail meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
prevail in Tamil
- To be current, widespread or predominant; to have currency or prevalence
- நிலவு nilavu
prevail in Urdu
- جیتنا, کامیاب ہونا, طاری ہونا, منوانا
prevail in Bengali
- জয়ী হওয়া, প্রচলিত থাকা
prevail in Malayalam
- ജയിക്കുക, പ്രബലപ്പെടുക, മുൻകൈ ആർജ്ജിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- prevail in Kannada
- ಬಳಕೆಯಲ್ಲಿರು, ಗೆಲ್ಲು, ತೇರು, ಕಸುವು ಹೆಚ್ಚು
- prevail in Odia
- କାଟିବା kāṭibā
- prevail in Sanskrit
- सहते sahate
- prevail in Arabic
- يسود yassod
Examples of prevail in a sentence
- And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 17:11:
- Liverpool created a host of chances and had a Joel Matip goal ruled out for a foul and offside in an incident-packed game that went right down to the wire before Jurgen Klopp's side prevailed.2022 February 27, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport:
Forms of prevail
| third-person singular present | prevails |
|---|---|
| present participle | prevailing |
| past participle | prevailed |
| past | prevailed |
| alternative form (obsolete) | prævail |
| alternative form (obsolete) | prævaile |
| alternative form (obsolete) | prævale |
Origin of prevail
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.
Words formed from prevail
Words that rhyme with prevail
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- veil
- pale
- avail
- wale
- whale
- bail
- hail
- yale
- bale
- snail
- travail
- brail
- exhale
- frail
- jail
- swale
- vail
- wail
- derail
- dwale
- entail
- flail
- Gail
- gayle
- impale
- kale
- quail
- regale
- spale
- thumbnail
- white whale
- ale
- curtail
- drail
- gale
- inhale
- retail
- shale
- tael
- unveil
- ail
- all hail
- assail
- ayel
- beyond the pale
- braille
- cakes and ale
- camail
Questions about prevail
- What does prevail mean?
- Prevail means 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.
- What is prevail in Tamil?
- Prevail in Tamil is நிலவு (nilavu). See Prevail meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use prevail in a sentence?
- And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
- What part of speech is prevail?
- Prevail is a verb.
- How do you pronounce prevail?
- Prevail is pronounced /pɹɪˈveɪl/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of prevail?
- The past tense of prevail is prevailed.
Words near prevail in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prevail (page history and authors); prevail (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Prevail (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prevail (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prevail (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); କାଟିବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-prevail.ogg.
Cite this entry: “prevail.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prevail. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.