domineering
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of domineering
Explanation
Domineering describes a person who is arrogant and bossy, like a military dictator or a supervisor who micromanages everyone at work. People who are strong-willed and overbearing can be described as domineering, like customers in a restaurant who demand things with snappy fingers. Parents who say sternly to their kids, "Because I say so, that's why," are speaking in a domineering way. The word domineering comes from the Latin root dominari, "to rule or 'lord' it over."
Vocabulary lists containing domineering
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 7
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The Color of Water
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Stamped
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
The actor was shown to no less domineering effect in The Great Santini, playing a frustrated Marine pilot who hectors and browbeats his teenage children.
From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026
In a four-hour encounter, Hassan questioned him in a level but domineering voice.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
Her domineering ways had gotten her put out of the Nation of Islam’s Boston Mosque Eleven; they took her back, then she left on her own.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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.
