prevailing
part of speech
adjective (prevailing); verb form (prevail, prevails, prevailed, prevailing)
meaning for a pupil
1) Prevailing means most common or strongest at a certain time or place. tree →
2) (geography) The prevailing wind is the wind that blows most often from one direction in a place. tree →
3) Prevailing is also a form of prevail, meaning winning in the end. tree →
sense in the lessons
In geography and weather lessons: in the UK and Ireland the prevailing wind is from the south-west. In formal writing «the prevailing view» means what most people think. Phrases: «prevailing wind», «prevailing conditions», «prevailing opinion».
examples
- The prevailing wind here blows from the west. tree →
- Trees lean away from the prevailing wind. tree →
- Under the prevailing conditions, the race was cancelled. tree →
- The prevailing view is that homework helps. tree →
- Good sense is prevailing at last. tree →
- Sailors used the prevailing winds to cross the ocean. tree →
- The prevailing weather is wet and mild. tree →
- Kindness prevailing over anger is the moral of the story. tree →
note
Mostly used before a noun: «prevailing wind». Wind is named by where it comes FROM: a west wind blows from the west towards the east — a common trap.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «prevailing» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.