Plural of dominant; things or beings that are dominant, especially in ecology or social hierarchies.
From 'dominant' (Latin 'dominans') + '-s' (pluralizing suffix). A straightforward pluralization creating a noun form from the adjective when referring to dominant individuals or species.
In ecology, 'dominants' are the species that control an ecosystem—the tallest trees in a forest that shade everything below, or the alpha wolves in a pack—and ecologists study how removing dominants can trigger cascading changes throughout entire food webs.
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