English Explanatory Dictionary

empire

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. 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.
  2. A political unit ruled by an emperor or empress.
  3. 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.
  4. An expansive and powerful enterprise under the control of one person or group.
  5. control, dominion, sway.
adj
  1. Alternative letter-case form of Empire.
adj
  1. Following or imitating a style popular during the First French Empire (1804–1814).
  2. Having the waistline just below the bust; featuring an empire waist.
  3. Produced in a dependency of the British Empire or Commonwealth of Nations.
name
  1. A number of places in the United States:
  2. An unincorporated community in Walker County, Alabama.
  3. An unincorporated community in Chicot County, Arkansas.
  4. A census-designated place in Stanislaus County, California.
  5. A town in Clear Creek County, Colorado, named after the Empire State.
  6. A census-designated place and former town in Dodge County and Bleckley County, Georgia.
  7. An unincorporated community and coal town in Christian County, Kentucky.
  8. A census-designated place in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.
  9. A township and village therein, in Leelanau County, Michigan.
  10. An unincorporated community in Butler County, Missouri.
  11. A census-designated place in Washoe County, Nevada.
  12. A village in Knox Township, Jefferson County, Ohio.

Pronunciation

ĕmʹpīə ĕmʹpī-ə /ˈɛm.paɪ̯ə̯/ /ˈɛm.paɪ̯.ə/ ĕmʹpīr' ĕmʹpī'ər /ˈɛmˌpaɪ̯ɹ/ /ˈɛmˌpaɪ̯ɚ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-empire.wav En-us-empire.ogg /ˈɛmpaɪə/ /ˈɛmpaɪɚ/

Word forms

empire 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.

Related words

emperor empress imperate imperation imperator imperatrix imperial imperially imperium Empire biscuit Empire cookie New Empire

Derived words

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 Bay empire-building Empire-grown empirehood empire line Empire of China Empire of Japan Empire of Manchuria empire silhouette Empire State Empire style Empire Vale empire-waist empire waist empire-waisted 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
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