Hypertext Webster Gateway: "preponderance"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Preponderance \Pre*pon"der*ance\, Preponderancy
\Pre*pon"der*an*cy\, n. [Cf. F. pr['e]pond['e]rance.]
1. The quality or state of being preponderant; superiority or
excess of weight, influence, or power, etc.; an
outweighing.
The mind should . . . reject or receive
proportionably to the preponderancy of the greater
grounds of probability. --Locke.
In a few weeks he had changed the relative position
of all the states in Europe, and had restored the
equilibrium which the preponderance of one power had
destroyed. --Macaulay.
2. (Gun.) The excess of weight of that part of a canon behind
the trunnions over that in front of them.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
preponderance
n 1: superiority in power or influence; "the preponderance of
good over evil"; "the preponderance of wealth and power"
2: a superiority in numbers or amount; "there is a
preponderance of Blacks in our prisons" [syn: {prevalence}]
3: exceeding in heaviness; having greater weight; "the least
preponderance in either pan will unbalance the scale"
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