domination

English

Etymology

From Middle English domynacion, from Old French dominacion, from Latin dominātiō (“rule, dominion”), from dominor (“domineer; rule”); see dominate.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌdɒməˈneɪʃən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌdɑːməˈneɪʃən/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

domination (countable and uncountable, plural dominations)

1. Control by means of superior ability, influence, position, or resources; prevailing force.
   • 2001, Angus Stewart, Theories of Power and Domination, →ISBN:

     First, relations of power and domination have been and continue to be significantly constitutive of social relations in modern societies.

   • 2012, Sandra Lee Bartky, Femininity and Domination, →ISBN:

     What this means is that the subordination of women by men is pervasive, that it orders the relationship of the sexes in every area of life, that a sexual politics of domination is as much in evidence in the private spheres of the family, ordinary social life, and sexuality as in the traditionally public spheres of government and the economy.

2. The exercise of power in ruling; sovereignty; authority; government.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 4, column 2:

     [...] thou and thine vſurpe / The Dominations, Royalties, and rights / Of this oppreſſed boy; [...]

   • 1770, Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents, 3rd edition, London: J. Dodsley, page 28:

     I am no friend to ariſtocracy [...]. [... O]n the ſuppoſed ruin of the conſtitution, [...] if it muſt periſh, I would rather by far ſee it reſolved into any other form, than loſt in that auſtere and inſolent domination.

   • 1775, Edmund Burke, Conciliation with America:

     In such a [slaveholding] people, the haughtiness of domination combines with the spirit of freedom [...].

3. (Christianity) A dominion; an angel from a high order of angels in the celestial hierarchy.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.

   • 1872, The Sacristy: A Quarterly Review of Ecclesiastical Art and Literature, page 20:

     The succession of orders given in this passage is not exactly the same as in the succeeding chapters, in which it is as follows: -- Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones; Dominations, Virtues, Powers; Principalities, Archangels, Angels.

   • 2010, Matthew Bunson, Angels A to Z: A Who's Who of the Heavenly Host, →ISBN, page 80:

     According to Dionysius, the dominations have the duty in the heavenly host of regulating the tasks of the angels and "through them the majesty of God is manifested." Through the efforts of the dominations - who are naturally seen only rarely by mortals -- the very order of the cosmos is maintained.

4. (BDSM) A fetish characterized by control and power over and discipline of one's sexual partner.
   • 2017, Teejay LeCapois, The Black Dominatrix Universe, →ISBN, page 121:

     By night, I am Mistress Shay Noir, the Black queen of domination. The world's most beautiful sadist.

5. (topology) Synonym of cover
   • 1998, Teresa W. Haynes, Stephen T. Hedetniemi, Peter J. Slater, Fundamentals of Domination in Graphs, →ISBN, page 299:

     With more than 200 research papers published on the algorithmic complexity of domination and related parameters of graphs, it is difficult to know what to cover in a relatively short chapter on the subject, especially since it could take quite a few pages just to cover the preliminaries of computational complexity and the many algorithm design paradigms that have been applied to domination problems.

Derived terms

• domination line
• domination number
• financial domination
• findom
• immunodomination
• minority domination
• nondomination

 

Related terms

• dominate
• dominion
• dominator
• domineering

Translations

act of dominating

• Bulgarian: преобладаване n (preobladavane), господство (bg) (gospodstvo)
• Catalan: dominació (ca) f
• Czech: nadvláda (cs) f
• Danish: herredømme n
• Dutch: overheersing (nl) f
• French: domination (fr) f
• Galician: dominación (gl) f
• Georgian: დომინაცია (dominacia)
• Greek:

  Ancient: δυναστεία f (dunasteía)

• Italian: dominazione (it) f
• Kyrgyz: бийлик (ky) (biylik), үстөмдүк (ky) (üstömdük)
• Latin: dominatio f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: herredømme (no) n

  Nynorsk: herredøme n, herredømme n

• Polish: dominacja (pl) f
• Portuguese: dominação (pt) f, domínio (pt) m
• Russian: господство (ru) n (gospodstvo)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannsachadh m

Further reading

• “domination”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “domination”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• admonition

French

Etymology

From Latin dominātiōnem (“rule, dominion”), from dominor (“domineer; rule”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

domination f (plural dominations)

1. domination

   Antonym: soumission

Further reading

• “domination”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.