Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Prevalent for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Today's word is "Prevalent" — adjective, pronounced /ˈprevələnt/, with the stress on "prev".
Narrator: Prevalent means common or widespread at a particular time or place.
Narrator: In plain English, prevalent things are everywhere.
Narrator: It comes from the Latin praevalere, to be stronger, the same root as prevail.
Narrator: A common collocation is "prevalent among young people", which describes a widespread trend in a group.
Narrator: It differs from "popular", because prevalent is neutral and can describe bad things, like disease.
Narrator: In medicine, prevalence means how many people have a condition at one time.
Narrator: Medicine, sociology, statistics and journalism all rely on the word.
Narrator: So remember: prevalent means widespread.
Speaker A: Why do doctors say a disease is prevalent?
Speaker B: Because many people have it! PREVALENT comes from the Latin for being stronger.
Speaker A: So not necessarily good?
Speaker B: No, just common.
Speaker A: Example sentences?
Speaker B: "Asthma is prevalent in cities", widespread. "This view is prevalent online", common. "Scams are prevalent at Christmas", frequent.
Speaker A: Common mistakes?
Speaker B: Spell it "-ent", and say prevalent among or in, not prevalent at.
Speaker A: Close relatives?
Speaker B: Widespread is its cousin, common is its twin, and rife is the negative alternative, but prevalent keeps its statistical charm!
Speaker B: Let's use "prevalent" in AI prompts — useful for health dashboards and content moderation.
Speaker A: How would health dashboards use it?
Speaker B: Map data.
Prompt: Show on a map which UK regions have the most prevalent rates of diabetes.
Speaker A: And moderation?
Speaker B: Find trends.
Prompt: Identify the most prevalent types of spam in these messages this week.
Speaker A: Could it help security?
Speaker B: Yes, threat reports.
Prompt: List the most prevalent cyber attacks on small businesses this year with one defence each.
Speaker A: One more?
Speaker B: Research writing.
Prompt: Explain the difference between prevalence and incidence for a public health leaflet.
Prevalent — meaning in Arabic & definition More P courses GL Dictionary