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.

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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

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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.

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Etymology

Origin of British Empire

First recorded in 1595–1605

Example Sentences

A star of films such as An Education, The Great Gatsby and Drive, she was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for her services to drama.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

This wasn’t a partition under the aegis of the British Empire: It happened 24 years after the British left.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

Welsh was not an institutionalised or official language so it wasn't considered a suitable medium for education during the Victorian heyday of the British Empire.

From BBC • Dec. 7, 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

In the long run, the evolution of an independent American nation, gradually developing its political and economic strength over the nineteenth century within the protective constraints of the British Empire, was probably inevitable.

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