{ } n. [ Cf. F. prépondérance. ] 1. The quality or state of being preponderant; superiority or excess of weight, influence, or power, etc.; an outweighing. [ 1913 Webster ] The mind should . . . reject or receive proportionably to the preponderancy of the greater grounds of probability. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ] 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. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. (Gun.) The excess of weight of that part of a canon behind the trunnions over that in front of them. [ 1913 Webster ] Variants: Preponderance |