empire

English Online Dictionary. What means empire‎? What does empire mean?

English

Etymology

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”). Doublet of empery and imperium.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĕmʹpīə, ĕmʹpī-ə, IPA^(key): /ˈɛm.paɪ̯ə̯/, /ˈɛm.paɪ̯.ə/
• (General American) enPR: ĕmʹpīr', ĕmʹpī'ər, IPA^(key): /ˈɛmˌpaɪ̯ɹ/, /ˈɛmˌpaɪ̯ɚ/
• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: em‧pire

Noun

empire (plural empires)

1. A political state, often a monarchy, that has achieved a much greater current size than its initial size by conquering surrounding territories, cities or nations.
2. A political unit ruled by an emperor or empress.

3. The group of states or other territories that owe allegiance to an imperial power (foreign to them), when distinguished from the native territory of that power; imperial possessions.
4. An expansive and powerful enterprise under the control of one person or group.
5. (Absolute) control, dominion, sway.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

empire (not comparable)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Empire.

Further reading

• “empire”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “empire”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “empire”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• E-Prime, epimer, permie, premie

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈempire/, [ˈe̞mpire̞]
• Rhymes: -empire
• Hyphenation^(key): em‧pi‧re

Noun

empire

1. (art) Ellipsis of empiretyyli (“Empire style”).

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• “empire”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.piʁ/

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French empire, from Latin imperium.

Noun

empire m (plural empires)

1. empire
2. influence, authority, dominion

Derived terms

• Céleste Empire
• Empire byzantin
• Empire des Fleurs
• Empire du Milieu
• Empire ottoman
• Empire romain
• Saint-Empire romain germanique

Related terms

• empereur
• impératrice
• imperial

Descendants

• Russian: ампи́р (ampír)

Etymology 2

Verb

empire

1. inflection of empirer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “empire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• périmé, primée

Italian

Alternative forms

• émpiere

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *implīre~*implĕre, from Latin implēre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /emˈpi.re/
• Rhymes: -ire
• Hyphenation: em‧pì‧re

Verb

empìre (first-person singular present émpio, first-person singular past historic empìi or (less common) empiéi, past participle empìto or (less common) empiùto, auxiliary avére) (transitive)

1. (uncommon, literally) to fill [with di ‘with’]
2. (figuratively) to fill, to stuff [with di ‘with’]

   empire di gioia ― to fill with joy

   empire la testa di qualcuno di chiacchiere ― to fill someone's head with chatter

3. (archaic or literary) to satisfy, to satiate

Conjugation

Synonyms

• riempire

Related terms

• pieno

Anagrams

• permei, premei

Middle English

Alternative forms

• empyre, enpyre, empyere, empere, empeyr, empir, enpir, ampyre

Etymology

Borrowed 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”). Doublet of emperie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛmˈpiːr(ə)/, /ɛmˈpɛːr(ə)/, /ˈɛmpiːr(ə)/, /am-/

Noun

empire

1. Emperorship; the office, power or title of emperor.
2. An empire; the domain of an emperor or empress.
3. (rare) Total power or influence, especially when wielded by gods.
4. (rare) A region of control; a field or zone.
5. (rare, Christianity) God's kingdom in the heavens.

Descendants

• English: empire
• Scots: empire

References

• “empīre, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-24.

Old French

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /emˈpiɾə/, (late) /amˈpiɾə/

Noun

empire oblique singular, m (oblique plural empires, nominative singular empires, nominative plural empire)

1. empire

Descendants

• → Middle English: empire
  • English: empire
• French: empire

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French Empire.

Adjective

empire m or f or n (masculine plural empiri, feminine and neuter plural empire)

1. (art) Empire

Declension

References

• empire in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN