empire building
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of empire building
First recorded in 1895–1900
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.
One reason the Monroe doctrine and empire building went out of fashion was that colonies and client states wanted out.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 5, 2026
"A lot of the maps we have are military mapping so you get things that are of interest to armies and of interest to empire building, raw materials, resources, things like that."
From BBC • Nov. 25, 2023
Shakespeare offers little room for arias, although Adams borrows from Dryden’s translations of Virgil’s “Aeneid” to give one to Caesar, who stands for the force of modernity in his empire building.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 16, 2022
It was a kind of careless cheerfulness that would make Pollyanna blush, but it was certainly in step with an age of empire building and confidence.
From Washington Post • Jul. 16, 2020
The workers have no more to gain from empire building than they have from war making, but they pay the price of both.
From The American Empire by Nearing, Scott
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.
