imperium

noun

im·​pe·​ri·​um im-ˈpir-ē-əm How to pronounce imperium (audio)
1
a
: supreme power or absolute dominion : control
2
: the right to command or to employ the force of the state : sovereignty

Examples of imperium in a Sentence

a nation whose economic imperium waned after the war
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Even the Commonwealth—long a convenient way to sustain a more symbolic form of cultural imperium—has lost much of its meaning. Fintan O’Toole, Foreign Affairs, 21 Feb. 2023 Playing that particular Neil Young tune to represent the American imperium was an insidious selection. Armond White, National Review, 17 May 2024 Poland, through a protest movement, led the liberation of Europe from the Soviet imperium, culminating with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Roger Cohen, New York Times, 5 May 2024 But Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s extraordinary new demands and threats, following his military buildup on the borders of Ukraine, has brought NATO back to basics — containing Russian power and imperium. New York Times, 14 Jan. 2022 But unlike the familiar realm of the Caesars, this imperium doesn’t govern only humans: Talking beasts also live as citizens in the empire. Liz Braswell, WSJ, 29 Sep. 2023 Many people in what was formerly East Germany, part of the Soviet imperium until shortly before German unification in 1990, look favorably on Moscow. Roger Cohen, New York Times, 28 Aug. 2023 And his greatest success, the reform of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, turned out to be his greatest failure, when reform led to peaceful revolutions across the Soviet imperium. Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, 31 Aug. 2022 Firstly, the struggle of Czech writers (within a German-speaking imperium) to transform their little vernacular into a language of literary distinction. Jared Marcel Pollen, The New Republic, 12 July 2023

Word History

Etymology

Latin — more at empire

First Known Use

1613, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of imperium was in 1613

Dictionary Entries Near imperium

Cite this Entry

“Imperium.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imperium. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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