dominate, v.
(ˈdɒmɪneɪt)
[f. L. domināt- ppl. stem of dominārī to bear rule, govern, lord it, f. domin-us lord, master: cf. F. dominer.]
1. trans. To bear rule over, control, sway; to have a commanding influence on; to master.
| 1611 Florio, Dominare, to rule, to dominate, to sway. 1613 Sherley Trav. Persia 55 Hee that..can dominate his passions. 1775 tr. Sp. Sonn. in Twiss' Trav. App. (T.) He was..dominated by his step-mother. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. v, Her power over him was gone. He had dominated her. 1870 Huxley Lay Serm. iii. (1878) 50 The Germans dominate the intellectual world. |
2. intr. To bear sway, exercise control; to predominate, prevail; to lord over.
| 1818 in Todd. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vi. i, Republicanism dominates without and within. 1837–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. iii. ii. (L.), The system of Aristotle..still dominated in the Universities. 1869 Farrar Fam. Speech iii. (1873) 86 This was..dominated over by a small aristocracy of Aryan warriors. |
b. Rom. Law. Cf. dominant a. 3.
| 1832 Austin Jurispr. (1879) II. l. 845 The parcel of land, the owner or occupier whereof hath the right of servitude is said to dominate over the land from the owner or occupier whereof the corresponding duty is owned. |
3. trans. To ‘command’ as a height; also fig.
| 1833 L. Ritchie Wand. by Loire 112 A colossal rock which dominates the whole town. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 420 This hill..dominates the plain, the harbours and the isthmus behind it. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic 77 From where, high-throned, they dominate the scene. |
b. intr. To occupy a commanding position (over).
| 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) I. 100 It is indeed the commanding ground of Madrid..but it does not dominate over the town. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. viii. 267 The moraine..rises upon its ridge of ice, and dominates..over the surface of the glacier. |
Hence ˈdominated, ˈdominating ppl. adjs.
| 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xx. (1632) 972 A Lady, bred vp in a dominating Family. 1700 Dryden Cock & Fox 161, I..thus conclude my theme, The dominating humour makes the dream. 1885 Athenæum 5 Dec. 725/1 The dominating influences of a particular period. 1891 Nature 23 July 267 A portion of the dominated trees being removed. |