Etymologically
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prominence

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈpɹɒm.ɪ.nəns/[1]
  • US: /ˈpɹɑ.mɪ.nəns/[1]

Etymology

The OED takes it as borrowed from Latin prōminentia (“a jutting out, projection”), which in post-classical Latin also meant distinction or excellence;[2] other dictionaries derive it through Middle French prominence, now obsolete in French.[3][4][5][6][7] The Latin noun is formed from prōminēns (“jutting out, prominent”), the present participle of prōmineō (“to jut out, stand out”),[2][3][4] from prō- (“forward”) and a verbal element meaning to project,[3][8] which is related to mōns (“hill, mountain”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to project”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state of being conspicuous; fame or distinction: 1533, in Frith's reply to Thomas More.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense, a projecting part or protuberance, is recorded from 1578,[2] and the Oxford Dictionary of English and Etymonline make it the first sense, from the late 16th century.[6][3] Etymonline dates the meaning "distinction, conspicuousness" only to 1827,[3] but the revised OED has it from 1533.[2] In astronomy a prominence is a great cloud of glowing gas rising from the Sun, a sense recorded from 1852 in the OED and 1862 in Etymonline,[2][3] and in phonetics the degree to which a sound or syllable stands out (1892).[2] Journalists briefly used it for a prominent person in the late 1880s.[2]

Timeline

  • 1533 – the quality of being conspicuous; distinction.[2][5]
  • 1578 – a projection or protuberance.[2]
  • 1611 – the condition of being physically prominent.[2]
  • 1852 – in astronomy, an eruption of glowing gas from the Sun.[2]
  • 1892 – in phonetics, how much a sound stands out.[2]
  • 1897 – verb, to bring into prominence.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The state of being important, well known or conspicuous: She rose to prominence as a novelist.[9][5][2]
  2. Something that sticks out, such as a protuberance or a hill.[9][7][2]
  3. (astronomy) A cloud of glowing gas rising from the Sun's surface.[9][2]
  4. (phonetics) The degree to which a sound or syllable stands out from those around it.[2]

Word family

  • overprominence
  • solar prominence

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins