prominence

From obsolete French prominence (compare proéminence), from Latin prominentia.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɒ.mɪ.nəns/

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɑ.mɪ.nəns/

prominence (countable and uncountable, plural prominences)

1. The state of being prominent: widely known or eminent.
   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly.
     Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan.
     “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

   • 2021 September 15, Laura Martin, “How talent shows became TV's most bizarre programmes”, in BBC‎:

     In 1949, the simple premise of discovering ordinary people who have hidden, extraordinary talents came to prominence in the UK with Opportunity Knocks, which started out as a nationwide touring radio show, before moving onto TV in 1956.

2. Relative importance.
3. A bulge: something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from a form.
4. (topography) Autonomous height; relative height or prime factor; a concept used in the categorization of hills and mountains.
5. (astronomy) A gaseous projection, often loop-shaped, springing from the surface of the Sun or a star.