From Middle English dominion, from Middle French dominion, from Latin dominium, from dominus ("lord"), from domus ("house").

• IPA: /dəˈmɪnjən/, /doʊˈmɪnjən/

dominion

1. Power or the use of power; sovereignty over something; stewardship, supremacy.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Daniel 4:34 ↗, column 1:

     And at the end of the dayes, I Nebuchad-nezzar lift vp mine eyes vnto heauen, and mine vnderſtanding returned vnto me, and I bleſſed the moſt high, and I praiſed, and honoured him that liueth for euer, whoſe dominion is an euerlaſting dominion, and his kingdome is from generation to generation.

   • 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides Translated into English:

     To choose between dominion or slavery.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:

     'Behold! once more I kiss thee, and by that kiss I give to thee dominion over sea and earth, over the peasant in his hovel, over the monarch in his palace halls, and cities crowned with towers, and those who breathe therein.'

2. predominance; ascendancy
   • 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC ↗:

     Objects placed foremost ought […] have dominion over things which are confus'd and transient.

3. (sometimes, figurative) A kingdom, nation, or other sphere of influence; governed territory.

   the dominions of a king  the dominion of the passions

   • 1843 December 18, Charles Dickens, “Stave Four. The Last of the Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC ↗, page 137 ↗:

     Oh cold, cold, rigid, dreadful Death, set up thine altar here, and dress it with such terrors as thou hast at thy command: for this is thy dominion!

4. (taxonomy) kingdom
5. (Christianity) An order of angel in Christian angelology, ranked above virtues and below thrones.

   Synonyms: domination

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Colossians 1:16 ↗, column 2:

     For by him were all things created […], whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.

• dominate
• domination
• dominator
• domineering
• domino
• subdominion

• French: domination
• German: Herrschaft, Oberherrschaft, Vorherrschaft
• Russian: власть
• Spanish: dominio

• German: Herrschaftsgebiet, Machtgebiet, Einflussbereich, Dominion
• Russian: влады́чество
• Spanish: dominio

• IPA: /doʊˈmɪnjən/

1. (historical) Any of the self-governing nations of the British Commonwealth until 1949.