Word of the Day

: June 17, 2009

preeminent

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adjective pre-EM-uh-nunt

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What It Means

: having paramount rank, dignity, or importance : outstanding, supreme

preeminent in Context

Carrie considered herself lucky to have one of the country’s preeminent novelists as her writing professor.

Did You Know?

What is noteworthy about the following sentence? "Mount McKinley is a prominent eminence in the Alaskan landscape." You very likely recognized two words that are closely related to "preeminent" -- "prominent" and "eminence." All three words are rooted in the Latin verb stem "-minēre," meaning "to stand out." But did you note as well the related word "mount"? Not too surprisingly, "-minēre" is related to "mons," the Latin word for "mountain." That relationship leads us in turn to "paramount," a word closely related in meaning to "preeminent."