domineering
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of domineering
Explanation
Domineering describes a person who is arrogant and bossy, like a military dictator or a supervisor who micromanages everyone at work. People who are strong-willed and overbearing can be described as domineering, like customers in a restaurant who demand things with snappy fingers. Parents who say sternly to their kids, "Because I say so, that's why," are speaking in a domineering way. The word domineering comes from the Latin root dominari, "to rule or 'lord' it over."
Vocabulary lists containing domineering
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 7
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The Color of Water
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Stamped
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Domineering responses to anxiety are associated with loss of empathy and delusions of grandeur.
From Economist • Jun. 14, 2018
Chu concludes, “Obstacles to the creative process litter the Chinese education landscape: Domineering teachers who discourage open questioning; exam metrics that keep children studying rather than exploring; social collectivism that promotes conformity.”
From Washington Post • Sep. 8, 2017
Domineering These responses assert authority and attempt to force the other person to withdraw, retreat, or submit.
From Time • Mar. 2, 2015
Domineering Frau Professor Gait is hated not only by her husband and her young American visitor, but by her young lover as well.
From Time Magazine Archive
Domineering and ever dominant, he had been accustomed throughout his life to impose his will upon others.
From The Monk of Hambleton by Livingston, Armstrong
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
