dominance

/ˈdɑmənəns/

/ˈdɒmɪnɪns/

Other forms: dominances

When you have power over others you are said to have dominance. For years, the British Empire had dominance over much of the world, ruling vast stretches of Africa, India, and Asia.

In packs of animals, the males will often fight to determine dominance, i.e., who is top dog. Or top lion. This happens in classrooms too, with the teacher needing to establish dominance over unruly students. If your football team has dominance over its league, it means they usually beat—or dominate—most of the other teams in the league.

Definitions of dominance

1. noun

   the power or right to give orders or make decisions
   synonyms: authorisation, authority, authorization, potency, say-so

   types:

   power of appointment

   authority given (in a will or deed) by a donor to a donee to appoint the beneficiaries of the donor's property

   carte blanche

   complete freedom or authority to act

   command

   the power or authority to command

   imperium

   supreme authority; absolute dominion

   lordship

   the authority of a lord

   muscle

   authority or power or force (especially when used in a coercive way)

   sovereignty

   the authority of a state to govern another state

   type of:

   control

   power to direct or determine
2. noun

   the state that exists when one person or group has power over another
   “her apparent dominance of her husband was really her attempt to make him pay attention to her”

   synonyms: ascendance, ascendancy, ascendence, ascendency, control

   types:

   ascendant, ascendent

   position or state of being dominant or in control

   domination, mastery, supremacy

   power to dominate or defeat

   predominance, predomination, prepotency

   the state of being predominant over others

   dominion, rule

   dominance or power through legal authority

   regulation

   the state of being controlled or governed

   absolutism, despotism, tyranny

   dominance through threat of punishment and violence

   monopoly

   exclusive control or possession of something

   superiority, transcendence, transcendency

   the state of excelling or surpassing or going beyond usual limits

   paramountcy

   the state of being paramount; the highest rank or authority

   raj

   British dominion over India (1757-1947)

   reign, sovereignty

   royal authority; the dominion of a monarch

   suzerainty

   the position or authority of a suzerain

   type of:

   condition, status

   a state at a particular time
3. noun

   superior development of one side of the body
   synonyms: laterality

   type of:

   bodily property

   an attribute of the body
4. noun

   the organic phenomenon in which one of a pair of alleles present in a genotype is expressed in the phenotype and the other allele of the pair is not
   type of:

   organic phenomenon

   (biology) a natural phenomenon involving living plants and animals