preeminent

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English preeminent, also preminent,^[2] borrowed from Middle French preeminent and directly borrowed from Latin praeēminēns (“standing out, surpassing”),^[3][4][2] the present participle of praeēmineō (“to stand out, to excel”),^[5][6][7] from prae- (“before”) and ēmineō (“to stand out”).^[5][8][7] The Middle French adjective is itself recorded only from the first half of the 15th century.^[3] The OED notes that the classical verb usually appears as praeminēre, and that the longer form is first clearly recorded in the 4th century.^[3] The spelling preheminent has an h inserted to avoid hiatus.^[3] Compare Catalan preeminent, Spanish preeminente, Portuguese preeminente and Italian preminente.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Surpassing others in rank or excellence: before 1460, in Knyghthode and Bataile, an English version of Vegetius.^[3][2] Etymonline dates the word to the early 15th century,^[4] and the Random House text to 1400–50.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The noun preeminence came first, from about 1200 in Etymonline and about 1225 in the OED.^[4][3] In English the adjective has meant "superior to others" from its first record.^[3][2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "excellent above others" and quoted Milton's In goodness and in pow’r preeminent.^[10] The physical sense of the Latin verb, "rising above the rest, tallest", appears in English only from 1826, and remains rare.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1460 – surpassing others in rank or excellence.^[3][2]
• 1826 – rising above the rest, tallest, also figuratively.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Superior to all others in rank, importance or excellence; outstanding, supreme: the country's preeminent authority on medieval glass.^{[5][11][12][3]}
2. (rare) Rising above the rest; tallest, also figuratively.^[3]

Word family

• preeminence
• preeminently

Related words

• eminent
• eminence
• prominent
• imminent

Usage notes

The spelling varies by dictionary: the American Heritage and Merriam-Webster Unabridged dictionaries enter the word as preeminent, the OED and Collins as pre-eminent.^{[5][11][3][12]}

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins