dome

American  

[dohm] / doʊm /

noun

• domes
  plural

1. Architecture.

   1. a vault, having a circular plan and usually in the form of a portion of a sphere, so constructed as to exert an equal thrust in all directions.

   2. a domical roof or ceiling.

   3. a polygonal vault, ceiling, or roof.

2. any covering thought to resemble the hemispherical vault of a building or room.

   the great dome of the sky.

3. anything shaped like a hemisphere or inverted bowl.

4. (in a dam) a semidome having its convex surface toward the impounded water.

5. Crystallography. a form having planes that intersect the vertical axis and are parallel to one of the lateral axes.

6. Geology. upwarp.

7. Also called vistadome.  Railroads. a raised, glass-enclosed section of the roof of a passenger car, placed over an elevated section of seats to afford passengers a full view of scenery.

8. Horology. an inner cover for the works of a watch, which snaps into the rim of the case.

9. a mountain peak having a rounded summit.

10. Slang. a person's head.

    I wish I could get the idea into that thick dome of yours.

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verb (used with object)

• domes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• domed,
  past participle,  past
• doming
  present participle

1. to cover with or as if with a dome.

2. to shape like a dome.

verb (used without object)

• domes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• domed,
  past participle,  past
• doming
  present participle

1. to rise or swell as a dome.

dome British  

/ dəʊm, ˈdəʊmɪkəl, ˈdɒm- /

noun

1. a hemispherical roof or vault or a structure of similar form

2. something shaped like this

3. crystallog a crystal form in which two planes intersect along an edge parallel to a lateral axis

4. a slang word for the head

5. geology

   1. a structure in which rock layers slope away in all directions from a central point

   2. another name for pericline

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verb

1. to cover with or as if with a dome

2. to shape like a dome

dome Scientific  

/ dōm /

1. A circular or elliptical area of uplifted rock in which the rock dips gently away, in all directions, from a central point.

2. A wedge-shaped mineral crystal that has two nonparallel, similarly inclined faces that intersect along a plane of symmetry.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• domelike
  adjective
• domical
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• domes
  plural

Participles

• doming
  present
• domed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• dome
  simple
• domes
  simple
• have domed
  perfect
• has domed
  perfect
• am doming
  progressive
• are doming
  progressive
• is doming
  progressive
• have been doming
  perfect progressive
• has been doming
  perfect progressive

Past

• domed
  simple
• had domed
  perfect
• was doming
  progressive
• were doming
  progressive
• had been doming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will dome
  simple
• will have domed
  perfect
• will be doming
  progressive
• will have been doming
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of dome

1505–15; < Middle French dome < Italian duomo < Medieval Latin domus ( Deī ) house (of God), church; akin to timber

Explanation

A dome is a large hemispherical roof, like those seen on many capitol buildings. The Dome of the Rock, in Jerusalem, is a Muslim shrine with a golden dome that sits on a holy rock. In Italian, duomo is the word for church or cathedral; it comes from the Latin domus, "house." Many Italian cathedrals feature prominent domes, and eventually the word dome became synonymous with that particular architectural feature. An umbrella works because its dome shape sheds the rain efficiently.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dome domes domed doming

This coming weekend, a new heat dome is expected to leave millions sweating in the American West, from Utah and Arizona to Nevada and California.

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

The refurbishment also included conservation work on the theatre's All the World's a Stage dome painting.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

Chemical studies have shown that material from this dome and other recent volcanic activity differs from the magma released during the giant eruption.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

The Einstein Tower in Potsdam, Germany, is a typical astronomical observatory, a rotating dome lifted above the treetops—at least when viewed from a distance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

He sat up, and saw that a tray was on his bedside table with some sort of meal contained under a silver dome.

From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Lava domes develop when thick magma slowly rises to the surface and piles up around a volcanic opening rather than flowing easily away.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

But what an image: an observatory dome bubbling out of a boil of smaller domes, like an idea simmering in a crucible.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, an 11th-century monastery with emblematic golden domes, is venerated by both the Russian and Ukrainian wings of the Orthodox Church as one of their most important spiritual centres.

From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026

Rubio was not entirely away from Iranian influence at the Taj Mahal, whose domes and four-way charbagh gardens are heavily influenced by Persian architecture.

From Barron's ● May 25, 2026

And as she gazed, the image of a city seemed to form itself behind the veils and streams of translucent color: towers and domes, honey-colored temples and colonnades, broad boulevards and sunlit parkland.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

The researchers envision beginning inside enormous domed habitats about 100 meters tall.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026

Construction has started, with workers assembling domed arches over a staging area which will become the octagon.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

Around back, an arrow, painted garnet against an otherwise beige facade, points toward a red door sheltered by a small, domed awning.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026

The group placed three old-school arcade-style games inside the Neoclassical DC War Memorial, which is located near the Reflecting Pool in Ash Woods and resembles a domed, open-air bandstand.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026

In the center loomed a large, domed hut made of bones and greenish leather.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

This means exercising the feet with toe curls and foot doming.

From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2022

I understood what was happening as I was sucked back and down under a ceiling of doming water.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 3, 2020

“I mean, you lived through so many changes. The last gasp of industrialization. Climate change remediation. The doming of the cities. Rewilding on every continent. The death of scarcity. The privacy wars. What’s it like?”

From The Verge ● Feb. 6, 2019

Spreading is hypothesized to start within a continental area with up-warping or doming related to an underlying mantle plume or series of mantle plumes.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

The saplings shuddered with every tug he made, and they all grew taller and thicker, doming inward, until they touched at the top.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack