dominance

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noun dom·i·nance \ ˈdä-mə-nən(t)s , ˈdäm-nən(t)s \

Definition of dominance

1 :the fact or state of being dominant: such as

a sociology :controlling, prevailing, or powerful position especially in a social hierarchy (see hierarchy 4)

male dominance

political dominance

companies competing for dominance in the market

dominance over their rivals

b genetics :the property of one of a pair of alleles or traits that suppresses expression (see expression 1b(4)) of the other in the heterozygous condition

c ecology :the influence or control over ecological communities exerted by a dominant (see ²dominant 2b)

2 biology :functional (see functional 1b) asymmetry between a pair of bodily structures (such as the right and left hands)

right brain dominance

See dominance defined for kids

Examples of dominance in a Sentence

although Napoléon had achieved dominance over the European continent, Great Britain still ruled the waves
the professor's dominance in the field of ancient Greek history

Recent Examples of dominance from the Web

Auburn's passing game has only one direction to go, while the running game's dominance will be a challenge to maintain.

— james crepea, AL.com, "What are realistic expectations for Auburn's offense in 2017?," 23 Aug. 2017
The memo lists five priority areas (in this order): military superiority, security, prosperity, energy dominance, and health.

— jeffrey mervis, Science | AAAS, "Trump offers his first list of science priorities, and it’s America first," 17 Aug. 2017
Afghan officials say Iran’s support of the Taliban is aimed in part at disrupting development projects that might threaten its dominance.

— carlotta gall, New York Times, "Iran Gains Ground in Afghanistan as U.S. Presence Wanes," 5 Aug. 2017
This had the effect of widening the divide between them and the rest of the league year after year, making their dominance a self-fulfilling prophecy.

— jack holmes, Esquire, "How Can You Rationalize Spending $500 Million on a Soccer Player?," 4 Aug. 2017
Mammals weren’t the only creatures having a major evolutionary moment once dinosaurian dominance ended.

— brian switek, Scientific American Blog Network, "A Fossil Bird in the Hand...," 2 Aug. 2017
Tobacco families battle for dominance as the invention of the mechanized cigarette rolling machine sets to upend the traditional hand-rolling method.

— The Courier-Journal, "45+ fun things to do in Louisville July 20-26," 19 July 2017
Women’s basketball continued its C-USA dominance with regular season and tournament titles under coach Michelle Clark-Heard, who has 130 wins the past five years.

— gary b. graves, The Courier-Journal, "Five years after taking over as AD, Todd Stewart has WKU's athletics program rolling," 18 July 2017
Both agencies allege Qualcomm leverages dominance in top tier cellular modems to force smartphone makers to pay too much to license its thousands of cellular patents.

— mike freeman, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Qualcomm loses appeal over documents demanded by European anti-trust regulator," 17 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dominance.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.