preeminent
/priˈɛm ə nənt/adjective
preeminent is spelled P-R-E-E-M-I-N-E-N-T. The wrong spelling people search most is preeminant: about 30 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 41 of all searches for the word. Preeminent is an adjective meaning “Exceeding others in quality or rank; of outstanding excellence, extremely notable or important”.
How many letters and syllables are in preeminent?
| Letters | 10: P-R-E-E-M-I-N-E-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 37,459th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, preeminant, about 30 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell preeminent?
Preeminent is spelled P-R-E-E-M-I-N-E-N-T. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 41 of the searches for preeminent in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is preeminent?
Preeminent appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce preeminent?
- UK /pɹiːˈɛmɪnənt/
- US /priˈɛm ə nənt/
Preeminent has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-preeminent.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with preeminent
Also written: pre-eminent (one word or two).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of preeminent
- præeminent
- pre-eminent
- preëminent
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does preeminent mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Exceeding others in quality or rank; of outstanding excellence, extremely notable or important.
adjective
- 1
Alternative spelling of preeminent.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Preeminent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense exceeding others in quality or rank:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | prééminent |
| German | hervorragend, überragend, herausragend |
| Portuguese | preeminente |
| Spanish | preeminente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does preeminent come from?
Borrowed from Middle French preeminent and its source, Latin praeēminēns, present participle of praeēmineō (“to stand out, excel”), from prae- (“pre-”) + ēmineō.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).