imperialism
[im-peer-ee-uh-liz-uh m]
- the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies.
- advocacy of imperial or sovereign interests over the interests of the dependent states.
- imperial government; rule by an emperor or empress.
- an imperial system of government.
- British. the policy of so uniting the separate parts of an empire with separate governments as to secure for certain purposes a single state.
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Origin of imperialism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for imperialistic
Contemporary Examples
North Korea thinks The Interview is an act of imperialistic war.
The new paradigm is that “wilderness” is a flawed notion and an imperialistic enterprise of distinctly Western origins.
The picture he paints, though, is one more of failed good intentions then of imperialistic villainy.
I mean the people who actually saw the war through a conservative—as opposed to jingoistic and imperialistic—lens.
Historical Examples
It is a powerful force in imperialistic Japan and in Russia.
The Psychology of NationsG.E. Partridge
They want India's billions and they want India's man-power for their imperialistic greed.
The New World of IslamLothrop Stoddard
Some of those old missionaries were imperialistic, all right!
Have We No Rights?Mabel Williamson
For the English are reviled for their imperialism because they are not imperialistic.
What I Saw in AmericaG. K. Chesterton
Nobody calls France imperialistic because she has absorbed Brittany.
What I Saw in AmericaG. K. Chesterton
imperialism
- the policy or practice of extending a state's rule over other territories
- an instance or policy of aggressive behaviour by one state against another
- the extension or attempted extension of authority, influence, power, etc, by any person, country, institution, etccultural imperialism
- a system of imperial government or rule by an emperor
- the spirit, character, authority, etc, of an empire
- advocacy of or support for any form of imperialism
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for imperialistic
adj.
1872, from imperial + -istic. Also see imperialist.
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imperialism
n.
1826, "advocacy of empire," originally in a Napoleonic context, also of Rome and of British foreign policy, from imperial + -ism. At times in British usage (and briefly in U.S.) with a neutral or positive sense relating to national interests or the spread of the benefits of Western civilization, but from the begining usually more or less a term of reproach. General sense of "one country's rule over another," first recorded 1878. Picked up disparagingly in Communist jargon by 1918.
It is the old story of 1798, when French republicanism sick of its own folly and misdeeds, became metamorphosed into imperialism, and consoled itself for its incapacity to found domestic freedom by putting an iron yoke upon Europe, and covering it with blood and battle-fields. [Francis Lloyd, "St. James's Magazine," January 1842]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
imperialism
Acquisition by a government of other governments or territories, or of economic or cultural power over other nations or territories, often by force. Colonialism is a form of imperialism.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.