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mainstream

mainstream

75 3.4
The ideas and activities most people accept as normal
  • noun
  • /ˈmeɪnˌstrim/
translation icon : corriente principal
  • For many in the mainstream, this approach to life may seem unfathomable and senseless.
  • enter the mainstream
  • far from the mainstream
  • the cultural mainstream

And that has now made its way to the mainstream of right wing politics.

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Examples

  • For we know what happens when mainstream centre ground politics fails.

  • Now, what does the mainstream media have to say?

  • We still get people now in the mainstream media warning us off.

  • We are the mainstream voice in politics today.

  • What do you think's worse, mainstream media or social media and why?

  • And why is it that the mainstream is so bad at these things?

  • And so it's moving much more into the mainstream investor space now.

  • And now there are, well, say at least three mainstream ethical theories.

  • Ireland had become much more anglicised, much more drawn into the mainstream of British culture.

  • The NHL is now trying to push hockey into the mainstream of American sports culture.

Antonyms

365 4.2

Different from the usual choice and offered instead

64 6.8

A small group whose ideas most people do not accept

Compounds

The ideas and rules most people in a place accept

Public talk that most people know and accept

How Common

trend
667 2.3
mainstream
75 3.4
alternative
365 4.2
subculture
28 5.4
fringe
64 6.8

Surface Forms

mainstream singular
mainstreams plural

Morphology

mainstream = main + stream (semi-transparent) = main + stream

The components 'main' and 'stream' are identifiable, but the sense 'dominant trend' is a metaphorical extension rather than a literal 'principal flow', so learners may not fully predict the meaning.

Etymology

Mainstream is a simple image: main means 'most important' and stream means 'flow', like a river current. So mainstream is the 'main flow' of ideas or tastes, the way most people think or what is most normal.