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''dominion'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''dominion'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260125204041-00-⌔

dominion - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

dominion (countable and uncountable, plural dominions)

  • Power or the use of power; sovereignty over something; stewardship, supremacy.
    • ✤ And at the end of the dayes, I Nebuchad-nezzar lift vp mine eyes vnto heauen, and mine vnderſtanding returned vnto me, and I bleſſed the moſt high, and I praiſed, and honoured him that liueth for euer, whoſe dominion is an euerlaſting dominion, and his kingdome is from generation to generation.1
    • ✤ To choose between dominion or slavery.2
    • ✤ ‘Behold! once more I kiss thee, and by that kiss I give to thee dominion over sea and earth, over the peasant in his hovel, over the monarch in his palace halls, and cities crowned with towers, and those who breathe therein.’3
  • Predominance; ascendancy.
    • ✤ Objects placed foremost ought […] have dominion over things which are confus’d and transient.4
  • (sometimes figurative) A kingdom, nation, or other sphere of influence; governed territory.
    • ✤ the dominions of a king the dominion of the passions
    • ✤ Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion!5
    • ✤ But a fait accompli even more spectacular than this awaited the Chinese. For the naval officer Nevelskoi had surveyed the Manchurian coast down to the Korean border and had urged successfully that this, too, as far inland as the Ussuri River, must be included in the Tsar’s dominions. At the southern end, in particular, the town of Haishenwei [translating 海參崴/海参崴] with its harbour would make a splendid port.6
  • (taxonomy) kingdom
  • (Christianity) An order of angel in Christian angelology, ranked above virtues and below thrones.
    • ✤ Synonym: domination
    • ✤ For by him were all things created […], whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.7

Etymology

From Middle English dominion, from Middle French dominion, from Latin dominium (“lordship, right of ownership”), from dominus (“lord”), from domus (“house”). See demain, demesne, domain, dominium.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dəˈmɪnjən/, /doʊˈmɪnjən/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ɪnjən
  • Hyphenation: do‧min‧ion

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Daniel 4:34, column 1: ↩

  2. 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides Translated into English: ↩

  3. 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC: ↩

  4. 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC: ↩

  5. 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Four. The Last of the Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 137: ↩

  6. 1967, Henry McAleavy, “The Second Opium War”, in The Modern History of China ‎, Frederick A. Praeger, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 91: ↩

  7. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Colossians 1:16, column 2: ↩

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