Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRE-EM'I-NENCE, n. [Fr.; It. preeminenza; pre and eminence.]

1. Superiority in excellence; distinction in something commendable; as, pre-eminence in honor or virtue; pre-eminence in eloquence, in legal attainments or in medical skill. The pre-eminence of Christianity to any other religious scheme … – Addison.
2. Precedence; priority of place; superiority in rank or dignity. That in all things he might have the pre-eminence. – Col. i. Painful pre-eminence! yourself to view / Above life's weakness and its comforts too. – Pope.
3. Superiority of power or influence. – Hooker.
4. Sometimes in a bad sense; as, pre-eminence in guilt or crime.