dome

C2+ Topic:Architecture & Buildings

US /doʊm/ UK /dəʊm/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a rounded vault forming the roof of a building or structure

Sunlight streamed through the cathedral's gilded dome.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a rounded vault forming the... cupola vaultrotundaarch canopy

Word family

Forms domeddômes

Derived forms domeddoming

Related forms domical

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

geodesic dome
a light dome-shaped structure built from a network of connected polygonal sections

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Dome first entered English in the 16th century directly from Latin domus, “house,” meaning a stately building. It entered again in the mid-17th century through Italian duomo and French dôme, this time meaning a rounded vault.

Etymology

From French dôme or Italian duomo ('cathedral, dome'), from Latin domus ('house'), itself from Greek doma ('house, roof').

dôme French domus Latin *dem- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Architecture & Buildings Tools, Machines & Construction

External links

# dome

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /doʊm/
**IPA (UK):** /dəʊm/

## Meanings
1. a rounded vault forming the roof of a building or structure

## Examples
- Sunlight streamed through the cathedral's gilded dome.

## Synonyms
- cupola
- vault
- rotunda
- arch
- canopy

## Derived Forms
- domed
- doming

## Related Forms
- domical

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: dôme
- Root: domus
- Root: *dem-

## Etymology
From French dôme or Italian duomo ('cathedral, dome'), from Latin domus ('house'), itself from Greek doma ('house, roof').

## AI Etymology
Dome is from French dôme or Italian duomo ('cathedral, dome'), from Latin domus ('house'), itself from Greek doma ('house, roof'). The ancestry passes through French dôme, Latin domus, and Proto-Indo-European *dem-. In present use as noun and verb, it means "a rounded vault forming the roof of a building or structure", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. Related words include domical; derived forms include domed and doming. The surrounding word family keeps the same base visible in domed, doming, and domical, showing how the headword belongs to a larger cluster rather than standing alone.

## Topics
- Architecture & Buildings
- Tools, Machines & Construction

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