dominate

Formsdominates, dominating, dominated

Pluraldominates

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To hold a commanding position within a particular field or activity.

   A handful of firms dominate the global chip industry.

   She dominated women's tennis throughout the 1990s.

   Similarlead, rule, control, monopolize

   Note

   Sports reporting can drop the object entirely. BBC Sport wrote in 2011 that Wigan "dominated for long periods", without naming the side they dominated. Market reports keep the object and attach a share to it: halogen dominates bulb shipments, at almost half the total. Unlike the 'overwhelming influence' meaning, this sense measures standing within a field rather than sway over a person.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To exert an overwhelming guiding influence over a person or situation.

   A single investor came to dominate the company's decisions.

   Anxiety dominated her thoughts for months after the accident.

   Similarcontrol, rule, govern, monopolize, overshadow

   Oppositeobey, submit

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To hold power over people or a place, governing or controlling them through greater authority or strength.

   Foreign powers dominated the coastline and its trade routes.

   Stronger nations often dominate weaker ones through military force.

   Similarcontrol, rule, govern, subjugate, command

   Oppositeobey, submit

   Note

   The root sense comes straight from Latin: dominor, "to rule, have dominion," built on dominus, "lord, master." To dominate in this sense is to stand where a lord stands over subjects. The verb takes a direct object, so the ruled party is named after it. Its opposites, obey and submit, describe the same relationship from below: one side dominates, and the other submits.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To rise above and look out over a place from a greater height.

   An old fortress dominates the river from its rocky hill.

   Snow-capped peaks dominate the valley on every side.

   Similaroverlook, command, overshadow

5. 5
   adjectivenonstandard

   A nonstandard variant of dominant, describing whatever has more power, influence, or presence than others around it.

   "I'm honestly not the dominate type," she admitted, "so I let my roommate plan the whole trip."

   One commenter on the fishing forum insisted the carp were now the dominate fish in the lake.

   Similardominant, assertive, predominant

   Oppositesubmissive, passive

   Note

   This adjective comes from the same Latin verb as dominant. It may come from dominātus, or from dominant simply losing its final sound. It does appear in print. Thomas J. Headlee's 1918 review of fly control calls one fly "the dominate species," and a 1989 personal ad in Gay Community News asks for a "fairly dominate" partner. Careful writing keeps the two words apart: the dominant species is the one that dominates.

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   In a directed graph, to lie on every path from the start node to a given other node, and so to precede it.

   Like a checkpoint that sits on every road into a city: you cannot reach the city without passing it.

   Node A dominates node D because every route from the entry reaches D through A.

   Compilers check which instructions dominate others before reordering code.

   Note

   Graph theory, computing and linguistics share this term, and in it direction is everything. To say A dominates B puts A earlier, on every route in. The relation is about position on paths, not size or importance. A node reached by several paths is dominated only by a node that all of those paths share. The everyday idea of ruling by force is only a loose metaphor here.

7. 7
   nounhistoricalcountable or uncountable

   The late period of the Roman Empire, following the principate, when the emperor's rule became openly autocratic and the last traces of the Republic were removed from government.

   Like a company that dissolves its board and lets one chief executive rule unchecked.

   Under the Dominate, court ceremony grew elaborate and the emperor was treated as a near-sacred figure.

   Historians date the start of the Dominate to the reforms of Diocletian.

   Note

   Historians use this label for the late Roman Empire. It comes from Latin dominātus, "rule, command," with the -ate that names an office or regime. It is capitalized and usually takes the, as in Karl Loewenstein's The Governance of Rome (1973): "During the Dominate." Its natural partner is the principate it followed. As a countable noun, it can also name a single emperor's reign within the period.

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