What is a Diagonally Dominant Matrix?
Matrices arising in applications often have diagonal elements that are large relative to the off-diagonal elements. In the context of a linear system this corresponds to relatively weak interactions between the different unknowns. We might expect a matrix with a large diagonal to be assured of certain properties, such as nonsingularity. However, to ensure nonsingularity it is not enough for each diagonal element to be the largest in its row.
Source: What is a Diagonally Dominant Matrix?, an article by Nick Higham.