empire

UK/ˈɛm.paɪ̯ə̯/US/ˈɛmˌpaɪ̯ɹ/

nounB22 meanings Very common — you will meet it every day · #2,105 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: empires

An empire is a group of countries ruled by one power. The Roman Empire, build an empire, the empire fell.

The defining feature is rule over other peoples rather than size, which is why a large country is not an empire and a small one with colonies is. Figuratively a business empire is a set of holdings under one owner. Note that the Latin imperium means command, from imperare, to order.

Definitions of empire

1nounempireA group of countries ruled by one power.B2
“The Roman Empire once stretched from Britain to Egypt.”
2nounlargeA large set of businesses under one owner.B2
“He built a business empire of hotels, shops and restaurants.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

empire is a political structure.

Where it comes from

Latin imperium means command or dominion, from imperare, to order. Emperor and imperative come from the same command.

Middle English
empire
English, today
empire

Built from

inperium · Latin — command, control, dominion, sovereignty, a dominion, empire
inperare · Latin — to command, order
in · Latin — in, on
parare · Latin — to make ready, order

From Middle English empire. 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”). a doublet of empery and imperium.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in History & Eras

Practise this word

empire in the wild

At its height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the largest empire in history and, for a century, was the foremost global power.
British Empire
During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the world, and in the process established large overseas empires.
British Empire
The empire was founded on 18 January 1871, when the south German states, except for Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, joined the North German Confederation.
German Empire
By the late 3rd century AD, the empire had been divided many times.
Roman Empire
The Gallic and Palmyrene empires broke away and a series of short-lived emperors led the Empire, which was later reunified under Aurelian.
Roman Empire

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the parare family

empire

empire — used about once every 265 pages · #2,105 · point at the bar for the others

Definitions of empire

1nounempireA group of countries ruled by one power.B2

“The Roman Empire once stretched from Britain to Egypt.”

2nounlargeA large set of businesses under one owner.B2

“He built a business empire of hotels, shops and restaurants.”

Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.

empire is a political structure.