Dominion

How to spell dominion

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce dominion

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dominion mean?

1. nounSupreme authority or control over something or someone.
2. nounA self-governing nation or territory, especially one within the former British Empire.

Dominion in a sentence

• The empire held dominion over vast stretches of land.

• Canada became a dominion in 1867 while retaining ties to Britain.

• The contract gave the parent company full dominion over the subsidiary.

• Each dominion ran its own internal affairs but shared a common crown.

Where does dominion come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Dominion descends from the Latin dominium, meaning 'ownership' or 'lordship', which was built on dominus, the word for a household lord or master. That noun in turn came from domus, meaning 'house', so the original idea was the authority a master held over his own household and property. English borrowed the word through Old French during the late 1400s, broadening it from private mastery to political sovereignty over lands and peoples. The same dominus root quietly survives in everyday relatives such as 'dominate', 'domain', and even 'dame'. For spelling, it helps to remember the single 'm' and single 'n', since the word keeps the simple domin- core of dominus rather than doubling any letter.

How the word is built

• domin- (from Latin dominus: lord, master)
• -ion (noun-forming suffix)