British Empire

American  

noun

1. a former collective term for the territories under the leadership or control of the British crown, including those in the Commonwealth of Nations and their colonies, protectorates, dependencies, and trusteeships.

---

British Empire British  

noun

1. (formerly) the United Kingdom and the territories under its control, which reached its greatest extent at the end of World War I when it embraced over a quarter of the world's population and more than a quarter of the world's land surface

---

British Empire Cultural  

1. The empire of Britain, which began in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with the establishment of colonies in North America and ended in the twentieth century as dozens of nations, formerly British possessions, became independent. At the empire's greatest extent, around 1900, it included Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, vast portions of Africa, and many smaller territories throughout the world. The empire ceased to have an “emperor” in the late 1940s, when the British king renounced the title of emperor of India. The empire has been succeeded by the British Commonwealth, which was formed in 1931.

---

Etymology

Origin of British Empire

First recorded in 1595–1605

Example Sentences

The Foreign Office - based in King Charles Street in Whitehall - was built in the 1860s in a grand classical Victorian style to impress foreign visitors at the height of the British empire.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2024

In 2003, Zephaniah rejected the offer to become an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, because of its association with the British empire and its history of slavery.

From Washington Times • Dec. 7, 2023

The sport that spread across the reaches of the former British empire remains a favorite of the South Asian laborers who power economies across the Arabian Peninsula.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 25, 2022

Britain colonized Canada beginning in the late 1500s, and the country formally remained part of the British empire until 1982.

From Reuters • Sep. 14, 2022

A careful and even brilliant financier, and a keen debater, he became known as a strong believer in protection for Canadian industries and in preferential trade within the British empire.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6 "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward" by Various