sultanate

noun sul·tan·ate \ ˈsəl-tə-ˌnāt \

Updated on: 11 Mar 2018

Definition of sultanate

1 : a state or country governed by a sultan

2 : the office, dignity, or power of a sultan

See sultanate defined for English-language learners

See sultanate defined for kids

Examples of sultanate in a Sentence

His sultanate ended in 1923.

Recent Examples of sultanate from the Web

Yet some of the wealthiest 17th-century empires — from Ming China to the Ottoman sultanate — actually fared worst in the coldest decades of the Little Ice Age.

— dagomar degroot, Washington Post, "Some places flourished in the Little Ice Age. There are lessons for us now.," 19 Feb. 2018
The sultanate expects to sell $7.5 billion in 2018 to help meet spending requirements.

— archana narayanan, Bloomberg.com, "Oman Weighs $2 Billion Loan After Multi-Billion-Dollar Bond," 23 Jan. 2018
Oman also reportedly arranged talks between US officials and Houthi representatives in the sultanate in 2016 during the Obama administration, but have failed to continue talks under the Trump administration.

— taylor luck, The Christian Science Monitor, "Yemen: Why death of ex-dictator makes ending war harder, and more urgent," 8 Dec. 2017
The secret is definitely getting out: The sultanate welcomed a record 3 million visitors in 2016, a number that’s up 16.2 percent from 2015.

— Fortune, "This Is the Next Big Destination for Adrenaline Junkies," 9 Aug. 2017
The sultanate of Oman, on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, previously accepted 10 Guantanamo prisoners from Yemen in January 2016.

— jon gambrell, Orange County Register, "Oman says it accepts 10 Guantanamo Bay detainees," 16 Jan. 2017
The sultanate of Oman long has maintained its distance, serving as a crucial go-between Iran and the West.

— Washington Post, "AP Analysis: Qatar crisis exposes a long Gulf family fight," 6 June 2017
The slump in oil prices since 2014 has put pressure on the finances of the sultanate, forcing it to join other Gulf countries in tapping international debt markets to plug budget shortfalls.

— zainab fattah, Bloomberg.com, "Oman Cut to Junk by S&P as Crude Oil Decline Imperils Finances," 12 May 2017
When the European powers carved up Africa in the nineteenth century, modern-day Somalia was still a patchwork of local sultanates dotting the Horn of Africa.

— ken jennings, Condé Nast Traveler, "Somaliland Was Only a Country for 5 Days," 10 Apr. 2017

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