Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Most frequent, common, or influential: Having the greatest control, power, or importance in a situation.
   • In genetics: Describing a gene or allele that produces its characteristic effect even when inherited from only one parent.
   • In music: Relating to the fifth note of a diatonic scale (e.g., scale of C major).

2. Noun:

   • In genetics: An allele that expresses its phenotype even when paired with a different allele.
   • In music: The fifth note of the diatonic scale.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • The company is the dominant force in the smartphone market.
  • Brown eyes are a dominant genetic trait.
  • The dominant theme in the symphony returns in the final movement.

• Noun:

  • In Mendelian inheritance, a dominant will mask the effect of a recessive allele.
  • The chord progression resolves from the dominant to the tonic.

Advanced Usage

• "Dominant ideology": The prevailing set of ideas, beliefs, and values that shape societal understanding and norms.

  • The study critiques the dominant ideology presented in mass media.

• "Dominant discourse": The most common or authoritative way of speaking or thinking about a topic within a society.

  • The article challenges the dominant discourse on economic growth.

Variants and Related Words

• Dominance (n): The state of being dominant; power and influence over others.

  • The team asserted its dominance early in the game.

• Predominate (v): To be the strongest or main element; to have control or power.

  • Pine trees predominate in this forest. (Note: This is a related verb, not a direct variant of the adjective 'dominant').

Synonyms

• Adjective: Prevailing, predominant, commanding, controlling, principal.
• Noun (in genetics): Dominant allele.

Antonyms

• Adjective: Subordinate, minor, recessive, inferior.
• Noun (in genetics): Recessive.

Related Phrases

• Dominant hand: The hand that a person prefers to use for tasks like writing.

  • Most people perform fine motor skills with their dominant hand.

• Dominant position: A situation of control or advantage, especially in business or competition.

  • The merger secured the firm's dominant position in the industry.

Adjective

1. most frequent or common
   • prevailing winds
2. (of genes) producing the same phenotype whether its allele is identical or dissimilar
3. exercising influence or control
   • television plays a dominant role in molding public opinion
   • the dominant partner in the marriage

Noun

1. an allele that produces the same phenotype whether its paired allele is identical or different
2. (music) the fifth note of the diatonic scale