empire

B1 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈɛmˌpaɪ̯ɹ/ UK /ˈɛm.paɪ̯ə̯/ See IPA manual

Freq #2531

Meanings

1

noun
A large group of countries or territories ruled by one government or person

The British built one of the largest empires in history.
2

noun
A large and powerful business or organization controlled by one person or group

She turned a small bakery into a global food empire.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms empires

Derived forms antiempireempire-buildingempire-grownempire-waistempire-waistedempirehoodinterempireminiempiresubempire

Related forms emperor empressimperateimperationimperatorimperatriximperial imperiallyimperium

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

empire builder
a person who creates or expands a large business or political organization

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English empire, from Old French empire, empere, from Latin imperium, inperium (“command, control, dominion, sovereignty, a dominion, empire”), from imperare, inperare (“to command, order”), from in (“in, on”) + parare (“to make ready, order”). Doublet of empery and imperium.

empire Middle English imperium Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# empire

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈɛmˌpaɪ̯ɹ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɛm.paɪ̯ə̯/
**Frequency rank:** 2531

## Meanings
1. A large group of countries or territories ruled by one government or person
2. A large and powerful business or organization controlled by one person or group

## Examples
- The British built one of the largest empires in history.
- She turned a small bakery into a global food empire.

## Derived Forms
- antiempire
- empire-building
- empire-grown
- empire-waist
- empire-waisted
- empirehood
- interempire
- miniempire
- subempire

## Related Forms
- emperor
- empress
- imperate
- imperation
- imperator
- imperatrix
- imperial
- imperially
- imperium

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: empire
- Root: imperium

## Etymology
From Middle English empire, from Old French empire, empere, from Latin imperium, inperium (“command, control, dominion, sovereignty, a dominion, empire”), from imperare, inperare (“to command, order”), from in (“in, on”) + parare (“to make ready, order”). Doublet of empery and imperium.

## AI Etymology
Empire comes from Middle English empire, from Old French empire, empere, from Latin imperium, inperium (“command, control, dominion, sovereignty, a dominion, empire”), from imperare, inperare (“to command, order”), from in (“in, on”) + parare (“to make ready, order”). Doublet of empery and imperium. In current use, the main senses are “A large group of countries or territories ruled by one government or person” and “A large and powerful business or organization controlled by one person or group”.

## Topics
- People & Society

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