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

Our outward act, indeed, admits restraint; ’Tis not in things o’er thought to domineer; Guard well thy thought; our thoughts are heard in heaven.

From Young's Night Thoughts With Life, Critical Dissertation and Explanatory Notes by Young, Edward

Mr. Jerningham would domineer over him, and Æolus, should the violent god be pleased to send for him, would at once annihilate him.

From Marion Fay by Trollope, Anthony

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

From Lady Anna by Trollope, Anthony

A pure idea, without a material hand or weapon, domineers over the greatest empire under the sun, in spite of the whole power of that empire armed to crush it.

From Continental Monthly , Vol. 5, No. 6, June, 1864 Devoted to Literature and National Policy by Various

It was the galloping of horse—the beat of hoofs, individualized presently to the ear—with that thunderous, swift, impetuous advance that so domineers over the imagination, quickens the pulse, shakes the courage.

From The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains by Murfree, Mary Noailles

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 Dostoyevsky, Fyodor

Death, indeed, domineers over everything but the forms of the Exchequer.

From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 02 (of 12) by Burke, Edmund

A deed magnanimous, a noble thought   Are as the music singing thro' the years   When surly Time the tyrant domineers Against the lute whereoutof it was wrought.

From The Diwan of Abu'l-Ala by Baerlein, Henry

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

He has no property of his own, and he has lived there with his mother and sisters till the feminine influences of the house have almost domineered him.

From Is He Popenjoy? by Trollope, Anthony

Through it all, however, West struggled with depression and a sense of self-loathing, and had trouble with intimacy, much of it a by-product of a hardscrabble childhood in West Virginia with a domineering father.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026

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

From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2026

"He was just so domineering and you just couldn't talk back to him," she added.

From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2026

Helen, the oldest sibling, is a domineering homemaker who has appointed herself keeper of the family recipes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

Then there’s the domineering Kennedy Airport air traffic controllers ordering the planes around.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell