Definition of "paramount" []

• Of chief concern or importance: tending first to one's paramount needs. (adjective)
• Supreme in rank, power, or authority. See Synonyms at dominant. (adjective)
• One that has the highest rank, power, or authority. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "At one extreme of these is the proceeding in rem of the admiralty, which conclusively disposes of the property in its power, and, when it sells or condemns it, does not deal with this or that man's title, but gives a new title paramount to all previous interests, whatsoever they may be."
• "What's harder to accept, from an author for whom character has always been paramount, is the lack of dimensionality in both Hector and Sylvie, who manage to seem vaporous and wooden at the same time ..."
• "This line about happiness being paramount is particularly irritating from supposedly religious people."