Indian Empire

American  

noun

1. British India and the Indian states ruled by Indian princes but under indirect British control: dissolved in 1947 and absorbed into India and Pakistan.

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Indian Empire British  

noun

1. British India and the Indian states under indirect British control, which gained independence as India and Pakistan in 1947

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Etymology

Origin of Indian Empire

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

"Aden has been an integral part of British Indian administration for nearly 100 years. That political association with my Indian Empire will now be broken, and Aden will take its place in my Colonial Empire."

From BBC • Jun. 21, 2025

Resistance against the Pakistani government and the militant insurgency advocating for an independent state for the Baloch people began in 1948, after Pakistan's independence from the British Indian Empire.

From BBC • Jan. 19, 2024

Russia wanted access to the Indian Ocean through Afghanistan, while Britain wanted control of the land in order to protect the northern borders of its Indian Empire.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2012

Because the Maharaja of Bikaner is today the Prince in waiting to George V of the Indian Empire, he plans to stop in London for a year.

From Time Magazine Archive

The regiment was on its way to garrison widely separated posts in outlying parts of the Indian Empire and neighbouring countries.

From Life in an Indian Outpost by Casserly, Gordon