Prominent

How to spell prominent

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce prominent

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does prominent mean?

1. adjectiveStanding out so as to be easily seen, or important and well known.

Prominent in a sentence

• The museum gave the new painting a prominent place near the entrance.

• She became a prominent figure in local politics after the campaign.

Where does prominent come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb prominere, which meant 'to jut out' or 'to project forward', formed from pro- 'forward' and a root minere meaning 'to jut or stand out'. That same minere root sits inside related words such as 'eminent' (standing out high) and 'imminent' (hanging over and about to happen), which is worth noting because the shared -minent ending is easy to muddle in writing. The Latin present participle prominent-em described something physically sticking out, like a ledge or a chin, and English took the word in during the late 1500s, at first for things that literally projected. From that physical sense it broadened to mean conspicuous or important, so a prominent person is figuratively one who 'stands out' from the crowd. The single m and the unstressed -ent ending are the spelling traps, since the middle syllable is a faint schwa.

How the word is built

• pro- (forward, out)
• min (from minere: to jut, project)
• -ent (adjective suffix)