Dictionary:

prevailing

  (prĭ-vā'lĭng)

1. Most frequent or common; predominant.
2. Generally current; widespread.

SYNONYMS  prevailing, prevalent, current. These adjectives denote what exists or is encountered generally at a particular time. Prevailing applies to what is most frequent or common at a certain time or in a certain place: took a poll to find the prevailing opinion. Prevalent suggests widespread existence or occurrence but does not imply predominance: a belief that was prevalent in the Middle Ages. Current often stresses the present time and is frequently applied to what is subject to frequent change: current psychoanalytic theories.

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adjective

1. Most generally existing or encountered at a given time: current, predominant, prevalent, regnant, rife, widespread. See specific/general.
2. Having preeminent significance: ascendant, dominant, predominant, prepotent, regnant, ruling, supreme. See important/unimportant.

Definition: general, dominant
Antonyms: individual, minor, peculiar, private, unimportant

The adjective has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: most frequent or common
  Synonym: predominant

Meaning #2: encountered generally especially at the present time
  Synonyms: prevalent, rife