empire
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: ĕmʹpīə
enpr: ĕmʹpī-ə
ipa: /ˈɛm.paɪ̯ə̯/
ipa: /ˈɛm.paɪ̯.ə/
enpr: ĕmʹpīr'
enpr: ĕmʹpī'ər
ipa: /ˈɛmˌpaɪ̯ɹ/
ipa: /ˈɛmˌpaɪ̯ɚ/
rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
Forms: form: empires
Etymology: From Middle English empire, from Old French empire, empere, from Latin imperium, inperium (“command, control, dominion, sovereignty, a dominion, empire”), from imperare, inperare (“to command, order”), from in (“in, on”) + parare (“to make ready, order”). Doublet of empery and imperium.
Senses: examples: text: the Russian empire
text: States and empires fail when they are no longer the solution, they are the problem.
ref: 2022 February 7, Charles Hugh Smith, How Empires Die:
glosses: A political state, often a monarchy, that has achieved a much greater current size than its initial size by conquering surrounding territories, cities or nations.
examples: text: The Empire of Vietnam was a short-lived client state of Japan governing Vietnam between March 11 and August 23, 1945.
glosses: A political unit ruled by an emperor or empress.
examples: text: British people [...] continued to believe in empire. It was what gave Britain a unique role in the world, and in return Britain had drawn strength from its empire to enable it to survive two great wars that had wrecked so many of its competitors. Imperial management in the twentieth[…]
ref: 2001 August 2, P. J. Marshall, The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 105:
text: Since Britain imported mainly foodstuffs from its empire, no preferences could be granted to the colonies without Britain first imposing a tariff on foodstuffs imported from other countries.
ref: 2021 April 13, Daniel Verdier, Democracy and International Trade: Britain, France, and the United States, 1860-1990, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 139:
glosses: The group of states or other territories that owe allegiance to an imperial power (foreign to them), when distinguished from the native territory of that power; imperial possessions.
examples: text: the McDonald's fast food empire
text: “Revenues for Jackson's non-profit empire sky-rocketed from $4 million in 1997, to more than $14 million just two years later.”
ref: 2002, Evelyn L. Damore, The Rattle and Hiss of the Tin Gods, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 111:
text: The Mafia never forgave Castro but Lansky had already laid the foundations of a mob gambling empire all over the Caribbean […]
ref: 2009, Martin Short, The Rise of the Mafia, Kings Road Publishing, →ISBN:
glosses: An expansive and powerful enterprise under the control of one person or group.
examples: text: The brutality, the unthinking, the unreflecting character of the barbarians were so great, that the new faith, the new feelings with which they had been inspired, exercised but a very slight empire over them.
ref: 1881, François Guizot, The History of Civilization from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the French Revolution..., page 122:
text: With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter.
ref: 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 1:
text: […] could gain some political strength for the pope, but in so doing the pope would lose the uniqueness and supremacy of his empire over souls: […]
ref: 2010, Stefania Tutino, Empire of Souls: Robert Bellarmine and the Christian Commonwealth, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 270:
qualifier: Absolute
glosses: control, dominion, sway.
Derived terms: Achaemenid Empire
Akkadian Empire
American Empire
antiempire
Austrian Empire
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Aztec Empire
British Empire
Byzantine Empire
Celestial Empire
Central African Empire
Chinese Empire
colonial empire
Eastern Roman Empire
empire-building
Empire-grown
empirehood
empire line
Empire of China
Empire of Japan
Empire of Manchuria
Empire State
empire-waisted
empire waist
empire-waist
Fifth Empire
First Empire
First French Empire
French colonial empire
German Empire
global empire
Graveyard of Empires
gunpowder empire
Gupta Empire
Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
Hunnic Empire
Inca Empire
Inland Empire
interempire
Japanese Empire
Korean Empire
Maratha Empire
maritime empire
miniempire
Mongol Empire
Mongolian Empire
Mughal Empire
New Empire
Norwegian Empire
Omani Empire
Orange Empire
Osman Empire
Osmanian Empire
Osmanic Empire
Osmanli Empire
Ottoman Empire
Ottomanian Empire
Parthian Empire
Persian Empire
Portuguese Empire
Roman Empire
Russian Empire
Sasanian Empire
Sassanid Empire
Second Empire
Second French Empire
Seleucid Empire
Sikh Empire
Songhai Empire
Soviet empire
Spanish Empire
subempire
Swedish Empire
Western Roman Empire
Related terms: emperor
empress
imperate
imperation
imperator
imperatrix
imperial
imperially
imperium