preponderance.

1. Greater weight, quantity or importance on one side of a comparison.

2. The greater convincing weight of evidence required under a particular evidential standard.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• preponderance of evidence
• numerical preponderance

On the page

The numerical preponderance favored one group without determining how much influence it held.

A preponderance of supporting material remained after the unreliable accounts were removed.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: criterion analysis, relative importance, potential and actual distinction, evidence interpretation. Disciplines: academic writing, institutional analysis, research and conceptual explanation. Commonness: moderately common.