empire
Conqueror's territorial holdings
An empire is most strictly the domain under the rule of an emperor.
In common usage, an empire is any extensive territory under single rule that is not geographically continuous, such as the one-time British Empire.
When empire is capitalized, it is typically preceded or contextualized by a specifying adjective (the Roman Empire).
Figuratively, an empire is any vast entity that exerts great influence: Amazon has a global business empire.
Empire is also a women’s fashion style featuring a waistline under the bust.
Ceremonial chair for sovereigns
- courtTrial venue or sports surface
- palaceMonarch's official residence
- dynastySuccessive family rulers
- successionFollowing in order
regent · viceroy · governor · satrap · bureaucracy · administration · taxation · census
Defeating and seizing control
- hegemonyDominant group's control
- subjugationForcing into submission
- colonialismDomination through foreign settlement
- expansionIncrease in scope
annexation · occupation · sphere of influence · vassal · tributary · protectorate · colony · province
Great number, or soldiers
- armyOrganized land-based military
- cavalryMounted military force
- navyMaritime military force
- conscriptionMandatory military enrollment
garrison · fortress · siege · campaign · general · commander · centurion · soldier
Monarch's ruled territory
- sultanateSultan-ruled state
- caliphateIslamic successor-led government
- shogunateMilitary dictatorship in Japan
- tsardomRussian imperial realm
khanate · principality · duchy · fiefdom · satrapy · dominion · commonwealth · raj
Corporation spanning many industries
- mogulInfluential industry leader
- tycoonDominant industrial leader
- magnateWealthy business leader
- corporationLegally separate business entity
monopoly · dynasty · media · real estate · retail · franchise · holdings · acquisition
Descend under gravity
- collapseSudden structural failure
- downfallSudden loss of power
- overthrowForcible removal from power
- defeatVictory over another
ruin · disintegration · dissolution · crumble · decadence · erosion · fragmentation · overextension
throne
Ceremonial chair for sovereigns
succession · regent · viceroy · governor · satrap · bureaucracy · administration · taxation · census · law
conquest
Defeating and seizing control
- hegemonyDominant group's control
- subjugationForcing into submission
- colonialismDomination through foreign settlement
expansion · annexation · occupation · sphere of influence · vassal · tributary · protectorate · colony · province · territory
legion
Great number, or soldiers
conscription · garrison · fortress · siege · campaign · general · commander · centurion · soldier · conquest
kingdom
Monarch's ruled territory
- sultanateSultan-ruled state
- caliphateIslamic successor-led government
- shogunateMilitary dictatorship in Japan
tsardom · khanate · principality · duchy · fiefdom · satrapy · dominion · commonwealth · raj · realm
conglomerate
Corporation spanning many industries
corporation · monopoly · dynasty · media · real estate · retail · franchise · holdings · acquisition · merger
fall
Descend under gravity
defeat · ruin · disintegration · dissolution · crumble · decadence · erosion · fragmentation · overextension · corruption
Rome
Italy's capital city
Assyria · Mongol · Byzantine · Ottoman · Han · Gupta · Aztec · Inca · Maya · Sumer
Habsburg
European imperial dynasty
- RomanovImperial Russian ruling family
- TudorSixteenth-century English ruling family
- BourbonFrench ruling family
Ptolemaic · Mughal · Plantagenet · Medici · Solomonic · Zhou · Merovingian · Stuart · Windsor
- historyancient civilizations, past events, historian, epochs, era
- Ancient RomeRome, Julius Caesar, Caesar, gladiator, gladiators
- civilizationcivilizations, dynasty, kingdoms, society, dynasties
- empireimperator, tsar, czar, kaiser, shah
- history termsdynasty, colonialism, Renaissance, Enlightenment, timeline
- royaltyking, queen, prince, princess, kings
empirenation-state
Sovereign political territory
city-state · colony · province · principality · territory
empireanarchy
Disorder from absent authority
autonomy · self-determination · independence · liberation · sovereignty
empirecollapse
Sudden structural failure
dissolution · fragmentation · ruins · decline · fall
- ancient empiresHistorical superpowers now vanished
- Roman EmpireAncient state from Augustus onward
- British EmpireVast colonial domain
- Empire State BuildingTall NYC landmark structure
- media empireVast communications business network
- evil empireMorally corrupt superpower