dominant

Etymology

From Middle French dominant.

noun

1. (music) The fifth major tone of a musical scale (five major steps above the note in question); thus G is the dominant of C, A of D, and so on.
2. (music) The triad built on the dominant tone.
3. (genetics) A gene that is dominant.
   Finally, if we suppose provisionally that the mutant genes are dominant just as often as they are recessive, selection will be far more severe in eliminating the disadvantageous dominants than in eliminating the disadvantageous recessives. 1930, R. A. Fisher, J. H. Bennett, The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, page 50
4. A species or organism that is dominant.
   Landowners cannot afford to cut submerchantable trees, yet many hesitate to cut merchantable dominants and codominants at the risk of downgrading the residual stand. 1966, John R. Bassett, Thinning loblolly pine from above and below, New Orleans, La: Southern Forest Experiment Station
5. (BDSM) The dominating partner in sadomasochistic sexual activity.
   His story was a fable you told dominants in training to stress the importance of comprehending the depths of your submissive's needs. 2011, Jayne Rylon, Mistress's Master, page 65

adj

1. Ruling; governing; prevailing
   The dominant party controlled the government.
2. Predominant, common, prevalent, of greatest importance.
   The dominant plants of the Carboniferous were lycopods and early conifers.
   All other elements are mere "impurities" when their abundances are compared with those of these two dominant elements. 2009, H. Stephen Stoker, General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, page 10
3. (of a body part) Preferred and used with greater dexterity than the other, as the right hand of a right-handed person or the left hand of a left-handed one.
4. (medicine) Designating the follicle which will survive atresia and permit ovulation.
5. (music) Being the dominant
   Dominant seventh