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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

paramount

/ˈpæɹəˌmaʊnt/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does paramount mean?

adjective

  1. Highest, supreme; also, chief, leading, pre-eminent.
  2. Of the highest importance.

noun

  1. A chief or superior; (specifically, chiefly South Africa) an African chief having the highest status in a region; a paramount chief.
More meanings (3)

proper noun

  1. A city in Los Angeles County, California, United States.

adjective

  1. (obsolete) Of a law, right, etc.: having precedence over or superior to another.

noun

  1. (obsolete) A supreme ruler; an overlord; (specifically, historical) in the feudal system, a landowner who did not derive ownership of the land from anyone else, and who was able to grant fees to others; a lord paramount.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈpæɹəˌmaʊnt/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

At this juncture in the history of the northwest and its native inhabitants, the various fur companies had paramount influence.
Charles A. EastmanIndian Heroes and Great ChieftainsProject Gutenberg ebook #336
This was one reason, doubtless, why Magna Carta made juries, in civil suits, paramount to all instructions of the king's judges.
Lysander SpoonerAn Essay on the Trial By JuryProject Gutenberg ebook #1201
More book examples (3)
Words, like all other manifestations of an evolving race, are stamped with the values that have long been paramount in that race.
Friedrich Wilhelm NietzscheThus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and NoneTranslated by Thomas CommonProject Gutenberg ebook #1998
To have this told him, and to be opposed in such a manner, was more than my lord paramount had been used to.
Richard Henry DanaTwo Years Before the MastProject Gutenberg ebook #2055
In airships of their present capacity, in order to obtain the greatest amount of lift possible, lightness of construction has been of paramount importance.
George WhaleBritish Airships, Past, Present, and FutureProject Gutenberg ebook #762