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• conquest
  conquest

  noun

  the act or state of conquering or the state of being conquered; vanquishment.
• Conquest
  Conquest

  noun

  See Norman Conquest

conquest

American  

[kon-kwest, kong-] / ˈkɒn kwɛst, ˈkɒŋ- /

noun

• conquests
  plural

1. the act or state of conquering or the state of being conquered; vanquishment.

   Synonyms:

   mastery, defeat, subjugation

   Antonyms:

   surrender

2. the winning of favor, affection, love, etc..

   the conquest of Antony by Cleopatra.

   Synonyms:

   enchantment, seduction

3. a person whose favor, affection, etc., has been won.

   He's another one of her conquests.

4. anything acquired by conquering, as a nation, a territory, or spoils.

5. the Conquest. Norman Conquest.

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conquest ¹ British  

/ ˈkɒnkwɛst, ˈkɒŋ- /

noun

1. the act or an instance of conquering or the state of having been conquered; victory

2. a person, thing, etc, that has been conquered or won

3. the act or art of gaining a person's compliance, love, etc, by seduction or force of personality

4. a person, whose compliance, love, etc, has been won over by seduction or force of personality

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Conquest ² British  

/ ˈkɒnkwɛst, ˈkɒŋ- /

noun

1. See Norman Conquest

2. the conquest by the United Kingdom of French North America, ending in 1763

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Synonym Usage

See victory.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reconquest
  noun
• self-conquest
  noun
• postconquest
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• conquests
  plural

Etymology

Origin of conquest

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

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

conquest Conquest conquests

The goals of American foreign policy tend to extend beyond the defense of territory, the conquest or defeat of others, or the gaining of political or economic advantage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

After the Norman conquest, it became part of a Norman realm stretching across the English Channel.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

Before we do a “House of the Dragon” flyby to examine its place in high fantasy’s conquest of TV and film, let’s talk about Sheepstealer.

From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026

The comet became one of the most famous symbols associated with the year 1066 and even appears in the Bayeux Tapestry, the medieval artwork depicting the Norman conquest of England.

From Science Daily ● May 13, 2026

It can create what some anthropologists call a culture of conquest.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

The 70-metre long, 11th-Century embroidery depicts in 58 scenes the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 - the moment that changed the country forever.

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

The artwork, which chronicles scenes from the 1066 Battle of Hastings and the start of the Norman Conquest of England, was held in a shock-proof and temperature controlled case to protect the delicate embroidery.

From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026

The Conquest would also have been unthinkable without the Spaniards’ alliances with the Aztecs’ aggrieved subjects, who contributed tens of thousands of warriors to the cause.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

The novel is set in the 19th century, but in a version of England where the Norman Conquest of 1066 failed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2025

Conquest and liberation and democracy and divorce are words that mean squat, basically, when you have hungry children and clothes to get out on the line and it looks like rain.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

“The Spartans’ stubborn refusal to share their wealth and conquests with other Greeks limited their potential to grow,” he writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026

The Al-Bass site is centred on a necropolis that dates back three millennia to Tyre's time as a major Phoenician city and was still in use until the Arab conquests of the 7h Century.

From Barron's ● Mar. 24, 2026

After 1909, Secretary of State Philander Knox, one of the founders of the United States Steel Corporation, pursued a program of "dollar diplomacy" that promoted American power through overseas investments rather than territorial conquests.

From Salon ● Mar. 7, 2025

But though these art objects carry the weight of centuries of defeats and conquests, they can’t alone engender a cultural identity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2024

We can identify the chain of proximate factors that enabled Pizarro to capture Atahuallpa, and that operated in European conquests of other Native American societies as well.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• annexation
• invasion
• occupation
• rout
• subjugation