dome

American  

[dohm] / doʊm /

noun

• domes
  plural

1. Architecture.

   1. a vault, having a circular plan and usually in the form of a portion of a sphere, so constructed as to exert an equal thrust in all directions.

   2. a domical roof or ceiling.

   3. a polygonal vault, ceiling, or roof.

2. any covering thought to resemble the hemispherical vault of a building or room.

   the great dome of the sky.

3. anything shaped like a hemisphere or inverted bowl.

4. (in a dam) a semidome having its convex surface toward the impounded water.

5. Crystallography. a form having planes that intersect the vertical axis and are parallel to one of the lateral axes.

6. Geology. upwarp.

7. Also called vistadome.  Railroads. a raised, glass-enclosed section of the roof of a passenger car, placed over an elevated section of seats to afford passengers a full view of scenery.

8. Horology. an inner cover for the works of a watch, which snaps into the rim of the case.

9. a mountain peak having a rounded summit.

10. Slang. a person's head.

    I wish I could get the idea into that thick dome of yours.

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verb (used with object)

• domes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• domed,
  past participle,  past
• doming
  present participle

1. to cover with or as if with a dome.

2. to shape like a dome.

verb (used without object)

• domes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• domed,
  past participle,  past
• doming
  present participle

1. to rise or swell as a dome.

dome British  

/ dəʊm, ˈdɒm- /

noun

1. a hemispherical roof or vault or a structure of similar form

2. something shaped like this

3. crystallog a crystal form in which two planes intersect along an edge parallel to a lateral axis

4. a slang word for the head

5. geology

   1. a structure in which rock layers slope away in all directions from a central point

   2. another name for pericline

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verb

1. to cover with or as if with a dome

2. to shape like a dome

dome Scientific  

/ dōm /

1. A circular or elliptical area of uplifted rock in which the rock dips gently away, in all directions, from a central point.

2. A wedge-shaped mineral crystal that has two nonparallel, similarly inclined faces that intersect along a plane of symmetry.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• domelike
  adjective
• domical
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• domes
  plural

Participles

• doming
  present
• domed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• dome
  simple
• domes
  simple
• have domed
  perfect
• has domed
  perfect
• am doming
  progressive
• are doming
  progressive
• is doming
  progressive
• have been doming
  perfect progressive
• has been doming
  perfect progressive

Past

• domed
  simple
• had domed
  perfect
• was doming
  progressive
• were doming
  progressive
• had been doming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will dome
  simple
• will have domed
  perfect
• will be doming
  progressive
• will have been doming
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of dome

1505–15; < Middle French dome < Italian duomo < Medieval Latin domus ( Deī ) house (of God), church; akin to timber

Explanation

A dome is a large hemispherical roof, like those seen on many capitol buildings. The Dome of the Rock, in Jerusalem, is a Muslim shrine with a golden dome that sits on a holy rock. In Italian, duomo is the word for church or cathedral; it comes from the Latin domus, "house." Many Italian cathedrals feature prominent domes, and eventually the word dome became synonymous with that particular architectural feature. An umbrella works because its dome shape sheds the rain efficiently.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dome domes domed doming

Van Tassel said he received telepathic instructions for building a metal-free dome that could generate electrostatic energy and eventually help rejuvenate cells and make time travel possible.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

"But also work is going on, on the dome, to build the floor and get ready for the installation of the dome... it's an exciting point that we're at."

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

A heat dome early in the month threatened World Cup matches and curbed celebrations of America’s 250th birthday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

This coming weekend, a new heat dome is expected to leave millions sweating in the American West, from Utah and Arizona to Nevada and California.

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

When we sat down, Kyle’s dad put a plate in front of me that had an open bun topped with a giant dome of hamburger chili.

From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri

At Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the capital's large medieval monastery and cultural heritage site, the golden domes of the Dormition Cathedral were hit.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

It had an observatory and planetarium and featured custom-built domes, specialized solar-observation telescopes, and a natural science education centre.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

Lava domes develop when thick magma slowly rises to the surface and piles up around a volcanic opening rather than flowing easily away.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

But what an image: an observatory dome bubbling out of a boil of smaller domes, like an idea simmering in a crucible.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

It danced over her senses the way the dream sun danced over the domes.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

At the time, the Hollywood mogul and actress unveiled ambitious plans to dramatically overhaul the estate with a 27,000-square-foot, five-story riding facility featuring a domed roof and underground horse stables.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026

The researchers envision beginning inside enormous domed habitats about 100 meters tall.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026

The Monticello we know today presents itself as a compact unity, prefaced by a classical temple front and crowned by an octagonal dome—the first domed house in America.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

The group placed three old-school arcade-style games inside the Neoclassical DC War Memorial, which is located near the Reflecting Pool in Ash Woods and resembles a domed, open-air bandstand.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026

And from the middle of the misty, domed web, a spider the size of a small elephant emerged, very slowly.

From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling

This means exercising the feet with toe curls and foot doming.

From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2022

I understood what was happening as I was sucked back and down under a ceiling of doming water.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 3, 2020

“I mean, you lived through so many changes. The last gasp of industrialization. Climate change remediation. The doming of the cities. Rewilding on every continent. The death of scarcity. The privacy wars. What’s it like?”

From The Verge ● Feb. 6, 2019

Spreading is hypothesized to start within a continental area with up-warping or doming related to an underlying mantle plume or series of mantle plumes.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

The saplings shuddered with every tug he made, and they all grew taller and thicker, doming inward, until they touched at the top.

From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack