Dominate

How to spell dominate

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce dominate

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dominate mean?

1. verbTo have a commanding influence over, or to be the most powerful or noticeable element in something.

Dominate in a sentence

• A few large firms dominate the entire market.

• Tall pine trees dominate the skyline behind the house.

Where does dominate come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin verb dominari, meaning 'to be lord over' or 'to rule', which was built on the noun dominus, 'lord, master'. That noun in turn came from domus, the Latin word for 'house' or 'home', so a dominus was literally the master of the household. English took the word in through the Latin past participle dominatus, and it settled into the language in the early 1600s with the sense of holding power or commanding a position. The same dominus root branches out into a whole family of familiar words, including 'dominion', 'dominant', and even 'dame' and 'don'. Knowing that single 'm' sits in dominus helps explain why dominate is spelled with one 'm' and one 'n', not the doubled consonants people sometimes expect.

How the word is built

• domin- (from Latin dominus: lord, master)
• -ate (verb-forming suffix)