VocabauraVOCABAURA

dominance

noun

Simple meaning

Of prime importance.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dahmuhnuhns

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdɑmənəns

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The state of being dominant; of prime importance; supremacy.

  2. Being in a position of power, authority or ascendancy over others.

  3. physiology

    Superior development of one side of the body

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Being in a position of power, authority or ascendancy over others.

Used this way, dominance is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use dominance

  • “Her apparent dominance of her husband was really her attempt to make him pay attention to her.”noun

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “dominance”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

ocular dominancedominance hierarchymale dominancepolitical dominanceeconomic dominancemarket dominancecerebral dominancecultural dominance

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • dominationnounDerived noun

    Social control by dominating.

  • dominicnounDerived noun

    Spanish priest who founded an order whose members became known as Dominicans or Black Friars (circa 1170-1221).

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • dominionnounRelated term

    Dominance or power through legal authority.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: being dominant

ascendancyascendency

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Keep learning “dominance” by choosing the kind of practice you need next.

Want to type words like this one without looking at the keyboard? Each typing round draws from words you've learned, saved or need to review. Follow the free Learn to Type lessons and type your own vocabulary with confidence.

Know the meaning? Practice vocabulary in real situations.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.