{ Pre*pon"der*ance (?), Pre*pon"der*an*cy (?), } n. [Cf. F.
prÈpondÈrance.] 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.
Pre*pon"der*ant (?), a. [L. praeponderans, -antis: cf. F. prÈpondÈrant.
See Preponderate.] Preponderating; outweighing; overbalancing; -- used
literally and figuratively; as, a preponderant weight; of preponderant
importance. -- Pre*pon"der*ant*ly, adv.
Pre*pon"der*ate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Preponderated (?); p. pr. &
vb. n. Preponderating.] [L. praeponderatus, p. p. of praeponderare;
prae before + ponderare to weigh, fr., pondus, ponderis, a weight. See
Ponder.] 1. To outweigh; to overpower by weight; to exceed in weight;
to overbalance.
An inconsiderable weight, by distance from the center of the
balance, will preponderate greater magnitudes.
Glanvill.