Definitions for empire
ˈɛm paɪər; for 8–10 also ɒmˈpɪərem·pire

Princeton's WordNet(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. empire, imperiumnoun

   the domain ruled by an emperor or empress; the region over which imperial dominion is exercised

2. empirenoun

   a group of countries under a single authority

   "the British created a great empire"

3. empirenoun

   a monarchy with an emperor as head of state

4. conglomerate, empirenoun

   a group of diverse companies under common ownership and run as a single organization

5. Empirenoun

   an eating apple that somewhat resembles a McIntosh; used as both an eating and a cooking apple

Wiktionary(3.33 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. empirenoun

   A political unit having an extensive territory or comprising a number of territories or nations and ruled by a single supreme authority.

2. empirenoun

   A group of states or other territories that owe allegiance to a foreign power.

3. empirenoun

   A state ruled by an emperor.

4. empirenoun

   An expansive and wealthy corporation; e.g. "the McDonalds empire".

Wikipedia(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Empire

   An empire is a sovereign state made up of several territories and peoples subject to a single ruling authority, often an emperor. A state can become a empire either by a narrow definition through having an emperor and being named as such, or by a broad definition as stated above as an aggregate territory under the rule of supreme authorities such as the Roman Empire. An empire can be made solely of contiguous territories, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Russian Empire, or include territories which are far remote from the 'home' country of the empire, such as a colonial empire. Aside from the more formal usage, the word empire can also refer colloquially to a large-scale business enterprise (e.g. a Multinational Corporation or Conglomerate), a political organisation controlled by a single individual (a political boss), or a group (political bosses). The concept of empire is associated with other such concepts as imperialism, colonialism, and globalization, with imperialism referring to the creation and maintenance of unequal relationships between nations and not necessarily the policy of a state headed by an emperor or empress. Empire is often used as a term to describe displeasure to overpowering situations.There are two main ways to establish and maintain an imperial political structure: (i) as a territorial empire of direct conquest and control with force or (ii) as a coercive, hegemonic empire of indirect conquest and control with power. The former method provides greater tribute and direct political control, yet limits further expansion because it absorbs military forces to fixed garrisons. The latter method provides less tribute and indirect control, but avails military forces for further expansion. Territorial empires (e.g. the Mongol Empire and Abbasid Caliphate) tend to be contiguous areas. The term, on occasion, has been applied to maritime republics or thalassocracies (e.g. the Athenian and British empires) with looser structures and more scattered territories, often consisting of many islands and other forms of possessions which required the creation and maintenance of a powerful navy. Empires such as the Holy Roman Empire also came together by electing the emperor with votes from member realms through the Imperial election.

Webster Dictionary(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Empirenoun

   supreme power; sovereignty; sway; dominion

2. Empirenoun

   the dominion of an emperor; the territory or countries under the jurisdiction and dominion of an emperor (rarely of a king), usually of greater extent than a kingdom, always comprising a variety in the nationality of, or the forms of administration in, constituent and subordinate portions; as, the Austrian empire

3. Empirenoun

   any dominion; supreme control; governing influence; rule; sway; as, the empire of mind or of reason

Freebase(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Empire

   The term empire derives from the Latin imperium. Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy. Aside from the traditional usage, the term empire can be used in an extended sense to denote a large-scale business enterprise, or a political organisation of either national-, regional- or city scale, controlled either by a person or a group authority. An imperial political structure is established and maintained in two ways: as a territorial empire of direct conquest and control with force, and as a coercive, hegemonic empire of indirect conquest and control with power. The former provides greater tribute and direct political control, yet limits further expansion because it absorbs military forces to fixed garrisons. The latter provides less tribute and indirect control, but avails military forces for further expansion. Territorial empires tended to be contiguous areas. The term on occasion has been applied to maritime empires or thalassocracies, with looser structures and more scattered territories.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Empire

   em′pīr, n. supreme control or dominion: the territory under the dominion of an emperor. [Fr.,—L. imperium—imperāre, to command.]

The New Hacker's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. empire

   Any of a family of military simulations derived from a game written by Peter Langston many years ago. A number of multi-player variants of varying degrees of sophistication exist, and one single-player version implemented for both Unix and VMS; the latter is even available as MS-DOS/Windows freeware. All are notoriously addictive. Of various commercial derivatives the best known is probably “Empire Deluxe” on PCs and Amigas.Modern empire is a real-time wargame played over the internet by up to 120 players. Typical games last from 24 hours (blitz) to a couple of months (long term). The amount of sleep you can get while playing is a function of the rate at which updates occur and the number of co-rulers of your country. Empire server software is available for Unix-like machines, and clients for Unix and other platforms. A comprehensive history of the game is available at http://www.empire./definition/History. The Empire resource site is at http://www.empire.cx/.

Rap Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. empire

   Adam Bomb, Scandalis, T.R.A, Tek-Man, Joe Kerr, TalkSick, Mr. Shebib, and Skinny the Nutcracker make up the group known as Empire, a collective of mcs from different areas around Toronto, Canada. Mostly known for their freestyle battling abilities, the group has released two acclaimed albums: Empire Presents: Runamuk The Intro and The Table of Nonsense and are sure to drop solo efforts as well.

Suggested Resources(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. empire

   Song lyrics by empire -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by empire on the Lyrics.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Corporation
   • Eating Apple
   • Government
   • Monarchy

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'empire' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2739

2. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'empire' in Nouns Frequency: #1147

Anagrams for empire »

1. epimer, E-Prime, premie

2. E-Prime

3. Epimer

How to pronounce empire?

1. Alex

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

How to say empire in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of empire in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of empire in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of empire in a Sentence

1. George W. Bush, speech, November 19, 1999:

   America has never been an empire. We may be the only great power in history that had the chance, and refused - preferring greatness to power and justice to glory.

2. Voltaire:

   This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.

3. Thomas Jennings:

   Among the leading matters which would occupy the attention of the meeting, were several important documents lately received from Europe, expressive of the sentiments that a very considerable portion of the people of the British Empire entertained respecting the deplorable situation of the colored people in the United States.

4. Debra Birnbaum:

   'Empire' was the talk of last season and if people really want to honor that show, they will throw their support behind Taraji, mad Men.

5. Lee Daniels:

   What we're trying to do is to give people the opportunity to see that what they're doing is painful, empire.

Images & Illustrations of empire

Popularity rank by frequency of use