mastery

noun

mas·​tery ˈma-st(ə-)rē How to pronounce mastery (audio)
1
a
: the authority of a master : dominion
b
: the upper hand in a contest or competition : superiority, ascendancy
2
a
: possession or display of great skill or technique
b
: skill or knowledge that makes one master of a subject : command

Examples of mastery in a Sentence

We were impressed by her mastery of the subject. She achieved a complete mastery of French. He struggled to gain mastery of his fears.
Recent Examples on the Web While jewels that are mass-produced by global luxury brands are as easy to find and purchase as McDonald’s hamburgers, Cultus Artem’s one-of-a-kind and limited edition jewels give humans a more fundamental form of luxury, one that involves personal care, technical mastery and rarity. Kyle Roderick, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024 Jordan Spieth had a front-row seat to Cantlay’s mastery, playing alongside him and shooting a 66, leaving him tied for third with Will Zalatoris and Tom Hoge with 54 holes to play. Steve Galluzzo, Los Angeles Times, 16 Feb. 2024 The charming patio radiates relaxation despite the technical mastery on display in the kitchen. The Indianapolis Star, 15 Feb. 2024 To be an effective twenty-first-century intelligence service, the CIA must blend a mastery of emerging technologies with the people-to-people skills and individual daring that have always been at the heart of our profession. William J. Burns, Foreign Affairs, 30 Jan. 2024 Enlarge / An example of Webb's mastery: Helium-rich Wolf-Rayet stars generally form by the ejection of hydrogen and other materials. Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 29 Jan. 2024 On Sunday, the Chiefs made a 10-point halftime lead hold thanks to a defense that continued its second-half mastery. L’Jarius Sneed made the biggest play to start the fourth quarter. Jesse Newell, Kansas City Star, 28 Jan. 2024 Public APIs Nothing builds coding mastery faster than creating personal projects that draw from public APIs such as Twitter, Spotify and GitHub. Expert Panel®, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024 Trump would also face a Congress less inclined to impose such constraints, having established ideological mastery of the Republican Party, whose old-line elites can no longer claim that his agenda is aberrant and must be resisted. Peter D. Feaver, Foreign Affairs, 19 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mastery.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle English maistrie, from Anglo-French mestrie, maistrie, from meistre master

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of mastery was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near mastery

Cite this Entry

“Mastery.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mastery. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

mastery

noun
mas·​tery ˈmas-t(ə-)rē How to pronounce mastery (audio)
plural masteries
1
: the position or authority of a master
2
3
: skill or knowledge that makes one master of something : command
a mastery of French

More from Merriam-Webster on mastery

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