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

Old Filth himself is a retired judge looking back on life, with recollections of the British Empire in better days.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025

He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 2002 and knighted in 2015 for his public service, "particularly to the Church of England".

From BBC • Dec. 1, 2025

Raising a handful of muddy salt from the sea, he declared himself to be "shaking the foundations of the British Empire".

From BBC • Nov. 29, 2025

He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and was made an honorary Knight of the British Empire.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2025

It was a vintage Franklin performance, reminiscent of his bemused but devastating recommendations to the English government in 1770 about the surest means to take the decisive action guaranteed to destroy the British Empire.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis