as in dominion
controlling power or influence over others
a nation whose economic imperium waned after the war
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of imperium
Everyone in the imperium knows the emperor is a nincompoop—and yet no one wants to go out on a limb to criticize him.
—
Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2025
The Islamic Republic of Iran is motivated by a desire to bring about the end times and usher in an everlasting Islamic imperium.
—Mike Coté, National Review, 20 July 2025
Nintendo has built a reputation on its willingness to catch fans off-guard, and a shutterbug adventure was the last thing anyone expected at the zenith of Pokemon’s imperium.
—Luke Winkie, Vulture, 18 June 2025
Poland, through a protest movement, led the liberation of Europe from the Soviet imperium, culminating with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
—Roger Cohen, New York Times, 5 May 2024
Even the Commonwealth—long a convenient way to sustain a more symbolic form of cultural imperium—has lost much of its meaning.
—Fintan O’Toole, Foreign Affairs, 21 Feb. 2023
Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 14 Oct. 2025
The Islamic Republic of Iran is motivated by a desire to bring about the end times and usher in an everlasting Islamic imperium.
—Mike Coté, National Review, 20 July 2025
Nintendo has built a reputation on its willingness to catch fans off-guard, and a shutterbug adventure was the last thing anyone expected at the zenith of Pokemon’s imperium.
—Luke Winkie, Vulture, 18 June 2025
Poland, through a protest movement, led the liberation of Europe from the Soviet imperium, culminating with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
—Roger Cohen, New York Times, 5 May 2024
Even the Commonwealth—long a convenient way to sustain a more symbolic form of cultural imperium—has lost much of its meaning.
—Fintan O’Toole, Foreign Affairs, 21 Feb. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for imperium
Noun
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His strong-arming of universities, law firms, and media companies is a response to real problems, but his actions seem aimed more at harming those entities—and expanding his dominion over them—than at crafting enduring fixes.—
Stephen Kotkin,
Foreign Affairs,
16 Dec. 2025
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But with rising numbers of Jewish immigrants escaping antisemitism in Europe, and the Palestinian population uniting in the largest and longest uprising against Britain’s 30-year dominion, all sides spiral towards inevitable collision.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
27 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Nazism’s total domination politically and socially found an aesthetic counterpart in the visual reduction of bodies to things, ecstatically subdued before the hypnotic power of a leader, force, or sublime beauty.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Jan. 2026
-
The rest of the game is pretty much total domination.—
Chris McKenna,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The new agreement says that Ukraine’s sovereignty and its ability to defend itself are non-negotiable elements of any peace deal and warned that its self-defense is essential to its own security and wider Euro-Atlantic stability.—
Emma Bussey,
FOXNews.com,
7 Jan. 2026
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Fundamentally, sending in our own military to make the arrest on foreign soil without the consent of the other country would still violate international law and the sovereignty of Venezuela.—
Elie Mystal,
Washington Post,
7 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The United States has increasingly projected itself as a global bully, treating weaker nations as fair game for regime change by force — simply to assert power and dominance.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Jan. 2026
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But despite Derrick Henry’s early dominance on the ground and Jackson’s sensational fourth quarter, another season ended in excruciating fashion.—
Noah Trister,
Denver Post,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
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But a couple of decades later, the rise of big-box retailers that boasted lower prices, like Walmart and Target, challenged that supremacy.—
Phil Wahba,
Fortune,
7 Nov. 2025
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In benchmark tests using Random Circuit Sampling (RCS), the same method used by Google to demonstrate quantum supremacy, Helios achieved results that would be practically impossible for any classical supercomputer.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Imperium.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/imperium. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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