domineer

American  

[dom-uh-neer] / ˌdɒm əˈnɪər /

verb (used with or without object)

• domineers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• domineered,
  past participle,  past
• domineering
  present participle

1. to rule arbitrarily or despotically; tyrannize.

2. to tower; to tower over or above.

   The castle domineers the town.

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domineer British  

/ ˌdɒmɪˈnɪə /

verb

1. to act with arrogance or tyranny; behave imperiously

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• domineering
  present
• domineered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• domineer
  simple
• domineers
  simple
• have domineered
  perfect
• has domineered
  perfect
• am domineering
  progressive
• are domineering
  progressive
• is domineering
  progressive
• have been domineering
  perfect progressive
• has been domineering
  perfect progressive

Past

• domineered
  simple
• had domineered
  perfect
• was domineering
  progressive
• were domineering
  progressive
• had been domineering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will domineer
  simple
• will have domineered
  perfect
• will be domineering
  progressive
• will have been domineering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of domineer

First recorded in 1585–95; from Dutch domineren, from French dominer, from Latin dominārī, equivalent to domin(us) “lord” + -ārī infinitive suffix

Explanation

The verb domineer means to rule with tyranny and absolute power, like what may occur in a dictatorship — or possibly within a household if one person is a little too bossy. If you’ve ever been around someone who tends to domineer, it won’t surprise you to learn that the word domineer can be traced all the way back to the Latin word dominus, meaning “lord, master.” It can certainly seem like a person with an impulse to domineer acts like your lord and master. The word also has an adjective form, domineering, which is used to describe those with a tendency to domineer.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

domineer domineers domineered domineering

He could dominate and domineer musicians in a recording studio, once upon a time, but he couldn’t charm 12 people on a 2007 jury into believing his story.

From Time ● Mar. 21, 2013

It goes to the head like wine, and you find attempts made outside journalism to dictate, to domineer to blackmail.

From Time Magazine Archive

They have no right to domineer as tyrants, and then fall into the most abject of slaves.

From Ancient and Modern Celebrated Freethinkers Reprinted From an English Work, Entitled "Half-Hours With The Freethinkers." by Charles Bradlaugh

He hated the domination of others, but was prone to domineer himself.

From Lady Anna by Anthony Trollope

This time it was a bracelet, and Mrs. Brill clasped and unclasped it ecstatically, feeling that she had at least one daughter who loved her and did not domineer.

From Ghetto Tragedies by Israel Zangwill

He runs the whole estate and domineers over her, and she don't dast to say her soul's her own.

From The Skipper and the Skipped Being the Shore Log of Cap'n Aaron Sproul by Holman Day

So our general, settled on his property of two thousand souls, lives in pomp, and domineers over his poor neighbors as though they were dependents and buffoons.

From The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

From this scene he had learned an alarming lesson: that the flesh domineers the soul and refuses to admit any schism.

From Là-bas by Keene Wallace

But Miss Arkwright's nurse Jane domineers into the peaceful circle with a clairvoyance that Miss Gwendolen is giving trouble, and bears her away rebellious.

From Somehow Good by William Frend De Morgan

He domineers over freshmen when they first come to the hatch, and puzzles them with strange language of cues and cees, and some broken Latin which he has learnt at his bin.

From Microcosmography or, a Piece of the World Discovered; in Essays and Characters by John Earle

Detractors say he sometimes domineered those around him, allowed his temper to erupt and, according to another former official, “has an ego the size of the Empire State Building.”

From Washington Post ● Jun. 22, 2021

Irish-born actress Maureen O’Hara was one of the biggest stars in films of the 1940s and ’50s, an era when it was common for leading ladies to be domineered by male heroes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2015

Many a U. S. newsorgan was snipped or censored in Cuba while "Tyrant" President Gerardo Machado domineered, but last week his more liberal successors found something which even they resolved to suppress.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the orphanage, in the Navy, in these last months of drifting, they had always subtly domineered over him.

From Time Magazine Archive

The French writers say, that before the interposition of the French Governor, the English Buccaneers took advantage of their numbers, and domineered in Tortuga.

From History of the Buccaneers of America by James Burney

Born in 1929 to a wealthy and conservative family -- by her account with a domineering mother and philandering father -- Kusama began producing her unique signature art aged 10.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

From identical assigned cubicles to domineering executive suites to vast entrance lobbies apparently designed to remind you that you aren’t insignificant, the message is clear.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026

Laurie Metcalf plays Linda, the siblings’ domineering mother.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026

In fact he is the opposite — a domineering strongman who seeks to bully everyone around him into compliance.

From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2026

Shin remembers him being just as cold, distant, and domineering as the others.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden