The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Preeminence \Pre*["e]m"i*nence\, n. [F. pr['e]['e]minence, L.
   praeeminentia. See Pre["e]minent.]
   The quality or state of being pre["e]minent; superiority in
   prominence or in excellence; distinction above others in
   quality, rank, etc.; rarely, in a bad sense, superiority or
   notoriety in evil; as, pre["e]minence in honor.
   [1913 Webster]

         The pre["e]minence of Christianity to any other
         religious scheme.                        --Addison.
   [1913 Webster]

         Painful pre["e]minence! yourself to view
         Above life's weakness, and its comforts too. --Pope.
   [1913 Webster]

         Beneath the forehead's walled pre["e]minence. --Lowell.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

preeminence
    n 1: high status importance owing to marked superiority; "a
         scholar of great eminence" [syn: eminence, distinction,
         preeminence, note]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

89 Moby Thesaurus words for "preeminence":
   accent, accomplishment, ascendance, ascendancy, balance of power,
   concern, concernment, consequence, consequentiality, consideration,
   deanship, distinction, dominance, dominancy, domination, dominion,
   eminent domain, emphasis, excellence, exquisiteness, favor,
   greatness, high order, high rank, illustriousness, import,
   importance, incomparability, inimitability, interest, kudos, lead,
   magnificence, majority, mark, marvelousness, masterdom,
   matchlessness, materiality, merit, moment, note, one-upmanship,
   overlordship, paramountcy, peerlessness, precedence, predominance,
   predominancy, predomination, preponderance, preponderancy,
   prepotence, prepotency, prerogative, prestige, primacy,
   principality, priority, privilege, prominence, renown,
   right-of-way, self-importance, seniority, significance, skill,
   sovereignty, splendidness, splendiferousness, stress, success,
   superbness, supereminence, superexcellence, superfineness,
   superiority, supremacy, suzerainship, suzerainty, transcendence,
   transcendency, unsurpassedness, upper hand, value, virtuosity,
   weight, whip hand, worth