What does "dominant" mean?
Dominant: Ruling; governing; prevailing; controlling; predominant; as, the dominant party, church, spirit, power. The member of a dominant race is, in his dealings with the subject race, seldom indeed fraudulent, . . . but imperious, insolent, and cruel. Macaulay. Dominant estate or tenement (Law), the estate to which a servitude or easement is due from another estate, the estate over which the servitude extends being called the servient estate or tenement. Bouvier. Wharton's Law Dict. -- Dominant owner (Law), one who owns lands on which there is an easement owned by another.
Additional senses
- 2.The fifth tone of the scale; thus G is the dominant of C, A of D, and so on. Dominant chord (Mus.), the chord based upon the dominant.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00