the act or state of conquering or the state of being conquered; vanquishment.
the winning of favor, affection, love, etc..
the conquest of Antony by Cleopatra.
a person whose favor, affection, etc., has been won.
He's another one of her conquests.
anything acquired by conquering, as a nation, a territory, or spoils.
the Conquest. Norman Conquest.
the act or an instance of conquering or the state of having been conquered; victory
a person, thing, etc, that has been conquered or won
the act or art of gaining a person's compliance, love, etc, by seduction or force of personality
a person, whose compliance, love, etc, has been won over by seduction or force of personality
See Norman Conquest
the conquest by the United Kingdom of French North America, ending in 1763
See victory.
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English conqueste, from Anglo-French, Old French, from unattested Vulgar Latin conquēsta (for Latin conquīsīta, feminine past participle of conquīrere ). See con-, quest
Alexander the Great's famous conquest of the Persian Empire was an act of conquering. For Casanova, on the other hand, a conquest was an act of seduction. Conquest derives from the Vulgar Latin word conquaerere, meaning "to search for, procure by effort, or win." In addition to its most commonly used meanings — conquering and seduction — conquest has a third, less well-known meaning: a success in mastering something difficult, like the violin, for instance, or flying an airplane.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Making it tougher still is sound bleed from a film detailing the 1781 British conquest of the island, a problem that headphones could solve.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026
The Koh-i-Noor, meaning "Mountain of Light" in Persian, has been the subject of conquest and intrigue for centuries, passing through the hands of Mughal princes, Iranian warriors, Afghan rulers and Punjabi Maharajas.
From BBC • Apr. 30, 2026
The Revolutionary War opened the West to conquest and settlement but also exposed its dangers.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026
Behind the dispute are competing narratives about historical memory between Mexico and Spain, which ruled Mexico for three centuries, starting with the Spanish conquest in 1521.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 18, 2026
Everything east of it was for Portuguese conquest.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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.
