# dominate

Pronunciation: US say "DOM-uh-nayt" /ˈdɑ.məˌneɪt/; UK say "DOM-i-nayt" /ˈdɒm.ɪ.neɪt/

## Verb

1. To hold a commanding position within a particular field or activity.
   - Simple: To be the strongest or most successful one in an area or activity.
   - _A handful of firms dominate the global chip industry._
   - _She dominated women's tennis throughout the 1990s._
2. To exert an overwhelming guiding influence over a person or situation.
   - Simple: To have so much control over someone or something that it shapes everything they do.
   - _A single investor came to dominate the company's decisions._
   - _Anxiety dominated her thoughts for months after the accident._
3. To hold power over people or a place, governing or controlling them through greater authority or strength.
   - Simple: To rule or control people or a place using greater power.
   - _Foreign powers dominated the coastline and its trade routes._
   - _Stronger nations often dominate weaker ones through military force._
4. To rise above and look out over a place from a greater height.
   - Simple: To stand high above a place and look down over it.
   - _An old fortress dominates the river from its rocky hill._
   - _Snow-capped peaks dominate the valley on every side._
6. In a directed graph, to lie on every path from the start node to a given other node, and so to precede it.
   - Simple: In a network of connected points, to lie on every path that leads from the start to another point.
   - _Node A dominates node D because every route from the entry reaches D through A._
   - _Compilers check which instructions dominate others before reordering code._

## Adjective

Pronunciation: say "DOM-uh-nit" US /ˈdɑmənət/, UK /ˈdɒmənət/

5. A nonstandard variant of dominant, describing whatever has more power, influence, or presence than others around it. *(nonstandard)*
   - Simple: Stronger, more in charge, or more common than the 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._

## Noun

Pronunciation: say "DOM-uh-nit" US /ˈdɑmənət/, UK /ˈdɒmənət/

7. 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.
   - Simple: The later stage of the Roman Empire, when emperors ruled as open, full rulers and the old republic had disappeared.
   - _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._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4, 6** — Borrowed from Latin dominātus, the perfect active participle of dominor ("to rule, have dominion"), which comes from dominus ("lord, master") plus a verb-forming suffix.
**Meaning 5** — Ultimately from Latin dominor ("rule, have dominion"), either from its perfect active participle dominātus, or through a sound change of the synonym dominant, from Latin domināns, the present active participle of the same verb.
**Meaning 7** — Borrowed from Latin dominātus ("rule, command"), from dominus plus a suffix that forms nouns for a rank, office, or regime run by people of such rank.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/dominate (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).