dominate
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Etymology 1
From Latin dominātus, perfect active participle of dominor (“rule, have dominion”), from dominus (“lord, master”); see dominus.
Pronunciation
Verb
dominate (third-person singular simple present dominates, present participle dominating, simple past and past participle dominated)
- To govern, rule or control by superior authority or power
- 2021 March 15, Guermantes Lailari, “The Lebensraum Factor in Xi Jinping’s Strategy for Hong Kong and Taiwan”, in Jewish Policy Center, archived from the original on 5 April 2021:
- The title of this article evokes memories of the beginning of World War II and reveals one method dictators use to increase their power. In China’s case, Xi Jinping’s Anschluss of Hong Kong in June 2020 fits nicely with the way Hitler began his initial European expansion strategy, called Lebensraum (living space). In Zweites Buch, Hitler said that to dominate the world, Germany must expand its borders and areas it controls. The first way to start achieving Lebensraum would be through Anschluss — the unification of Austria and Germany. Further, he envisioned an expansion that would include Poland, Czechoslovakia, the rest of Europe and Russia.
- To exert an overwhelming guiding influence over something or someone
- 1978, Heikki Seppä, Form Emphasis for Metalsmiths, [Kent, Oh.]: Kent State University Press, →ISBN, page 1:
- THE THREE DOMINANT FORMS IN METALSMITHING […] At present, there are but three basic volumetric forms dominating the work of metalsmiths, the spherical (usually in its most practical form, the domical), the cylindrical, and the cubical. […] The possibilities for further variations on them are all but exhausted, there being little chance to express new and unusual ideas within the framework of such limited choices. As a result, much of twentieth-century metalsmithing has relied on surface enrichment rather than formal development for its originality.
- To enjoy a commanding position in some field
- 2011 October 15, Michael Da Silva, “Wigan 1 - 3 Bolton”, in BBC Sport:
- Individual mistakes proved costly for Wigan who, particularly after the half-time introduction of Hugo Rodallega, dominated for long periods.
- 2016 February 1, Diane Cardwell, “G.E. to Phase Out CFL Bulbs”, in The New York Times:
- Halogen dominates standard bulb shipments, the association reported, representing almost half of the total, followed by CFLs at about 27 percent, a share that is on the decline.
- To overlook from a height.
- 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 67:
- Our arrival at Worcester is heralded by the appearance of the city's cathedral tower, a solid square structure that's dominated the skyline since the 12th century.
- (computing, graph theory, linguistics) To precede another node of a directed graph in all paths from the start of the graph to the other node.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to govern, rule or control by superior authority or power
|
to exert an overwhelming guiding influence over something or someone
|
to enjoy a commanding position in some field
Etymology 2
Ultimately from Latin dominor (“rule, have dominion”), either from the perfect active participle Latin dominātus, or via phonetic alteration of the synonym dominant, from the present active participle Latin domināns. Compare the pair predominate, predominant.
Pronunciation
Adjective
dominate (comparative more dominate, superlative most dominate)
- Dominant.
- 1918 August, Thomas J. Headlee, “Effective Methods of Fly Control. A Review of the Factors that Underlie the Problem”, in The Tropical Agriculturalist, volume 51, page 111:
- From the middle of June in 1913 and the first of July in 1914, it became the dominate species, forming 90 per cent. or more of the fauna, and remained so until the end of the season.
- 1989 August 19, Bruce Amick, “Personal Advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 6, page 14:
- GM, 33, FEMME, very loving, caring, sensitive, sexual. I would love to hear from a fairly dominate butch type from the Portland Oregon area.
Usage notes
- Dominate is less common than dominant as an adjective.
- Some usage guides consider it incorrect to use dominate as an adjective.[1]
Etymology 3
From Latin dominātus (“rule, command”) (genitive singular dominātūs).
Noun
dominate (countable and uncountable, plural dominates)
- (historical) The late period of the Roman Empire, following the principate, during which the emperor's rule became more explicitly autocratic and remaining vestiges of the Roman Republic were removed from the formal workings of government; the reign of any particular emperor during this period.
- 1973, Karl Loewenstein, The Governance of Rome, Martinus Nijhoff, page 238:
- During the Dominate this tendency was perfected to the point of dirigism in the modern sense, a state-directed society and state-controlled economy, obliterating, once again a prelude to modern times, the laissez-faire climate that had characterized the economic self-determination of the individual under the republic and the Principate.
- 1996, Clare Krojzl (translator), Sebastian Hensel, III: From Diocletian to Alaric [1886, lecture notes], Theodor Mommsen (editor), A History of Rome Under the Emperors, C.H.Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Republished 2005, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), eBook, page 317,
- The dominate of Diocletian and Constantine differs more sharply from the principate than the latter does from the Republic.
- 1997, Thomas Dunlap (translator), Herwig Wolfram, The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples, [1990, Das Reich und die Germanen], University of California Press, 2005, Paperback, page 55,
- Once someone had attained senatorial dignity by way of the successful tenure of some appropriate magistracy, one of the most important mechanisms of the dominate kicked in: all social rankings and professions were to a large extent heritable.
Usage notes
- The period begins 284 CE — the end of the Crisis of the Third Century and beginning of the reign of Diocletian, who instituted reforms.
- In the west, it ends 476 CE, with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.
- In the east, the end is taken either to be 565 CE (the end of Justinian I's reign) or 641 CE (the end of Heraclius' reign).
Coordinate terms
Translations
See also
References
- Paul Brians “dominate / dominant”, in Common Errors in English Usage., archived from the original on 2022 May 25
Further reading
- “dominate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “dominate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
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