Imperialism
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The policy of forcefully extending a nation's authority by territorial gain or by the establishment of economic and political dominance over other nations. countable, uncountable
"Though most of the cases here cover European encounters with non-Europeans, it is not the intention of the book to give the impression that genocide is a function of European colonialism and imperialism alone."
- 2 any instance of aggressive extension of authority wordnet
- 3 Any undue extension of political, intellectual, or other forms of authority, particularly in regards to systems that benefit the Western world at the cost of the Global South. countable, derogatory, figuratively, uncountable
"The moral imperialism of the Supreme Court did not end with Chief Justice Warren’s resignation nor with the departures of the Justices who made up his distinctive majority."
- 4 a political orientation that advocates imperial interests wordnet
- 5 a policy of extending your rule over foreign countries wordnet
Example
More examples"It’s quite obvious that the purport of these misanthropic theories consists in slandering the working masses, relieving imperialism from the responsibility for the bloody wars it provokes, and imposing the thought that wars are endless and are allegedly caused by aggressive tendencies in human nature."
Etymology
From imperial + -ism.
Related phrases
More for "imperialism"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.