mastery
Americannoun
-
full command or understanding of a subject
-
outstanding skill; expertise
-
the power of command; control
-
victory or superiority
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mastery
1175–1225; master + -y 3; replacing Middle English maistrie < Old French
Explanation
Mastery refers to having great skill at something or total dominance over something. If you are fluent in French, you have a mastery of the language. If you win every game of chess, you show a mastery of the game. Mastery is from master, who is someone knowledgeable about a subject, like a master painter. Masters are also people with power — butlers sometimes call their employer master. Mastery refers to a similar power or ability. Beethoven showed mastery in composing. Shakespeare displayed mastery in writing. Apple has had mastery over the field of computers and smartphones. Often, both senses are mixed: if someone has mastery over a field skill-wise, they probably have mastery in terms of dominance too.
Vocabulary lists containing mastery
Trumps
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Selection Vocabulary 4, Unit 5
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Vocabulary from Readings 2, Unit 3
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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.
See Examples For:
As military leaders, our duty to our forces goes beyond tactical mastery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The Constitution is a “liberty document,” and he was responding to a view of the Constitution that saw it as written by powerful men to embody a theory of power and mastery.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026
"These engravings are organized and consistent, and show mastery of geometric relationships," Ferrara explains.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
Just one study in pop-music mastery after another.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
And like all specialized human traits, some people have much more mastery over this reflex than others.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
And to shew their agility, they tried many masteries vpon the ropes of the ship after our mariners fashion, and appeared to be very strong of their armes, and nimble of their bodies.
From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of The English Nation, Vol. XII., America, Part I. by Richard Hakluyt
The late William James, as some readers may remember, placed musical pleasure between sentimental love and sea-sickness as phenomena unaccountable by any value for human survival, in fact masteries, if not paradoxes, of evolution.
From The Beautiful An Introduction to Psychological Aesthetics by Vernon Lee
Every man that proveth masteries abstaineth from all things.
From The first New Testament printed in English by
Fuller, speaking of the swash-bucklers, or bullies, of Queen Elizabeth's time, says, 'West Smithfield was formerly called Ruffian's Hall, where such men usually met, casually or otherwise, to try masteries with sword or buckler.
From The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott
And if a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully.—II.
From Humanity in the City by E. H. (Edwin Hubbell) Chapin
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.
