Word.ws English Dictionary

domina

UK/ˈdɒmɪnə/

domina noun: the head of a nunnery.

Noun

domina (plural dominas or dominae)

  1. The head of a nunnery.
    • Each of the nuns was heard in her turn, while the others waited with the domina in the adjoining vestry.1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society 1985, page 29
  2. A dominatrix.
    • >Couple of articles about professional dommes, […]
      It's written "domina". Period. Even in English. If you can't stand Latin endings, I'll grudgingly concede the androgynous abbreviation "dom". But a pseudo-French bastard "domme" really has no right to live, not even on a terminal screen.1993 November 22, <-Inquisitor->, “Professional DOMINAE (that's how it's spelled)”, in alt.sex.bondage (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026
    • A specific of the fem-dom, sub-male scene is that it is the segment with the highest presence of professional activity -- professional dominae abound.1994 May 26, Alex Martelli, “Newbie Submissive....”, in alt.sex.bondage (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026
  3. An ancient Roman lady.
    • A precious article is the paint with which the Roman domina was beautified; it was well worthy of the case of ivory and rock-crystal in which it was preserved.1863 November 21, “Literary Extracts, &c.”, in The Hull News, number 621, Kingston upon Hull, E.R.Y., page 3, column 4
    • “Can you translate this invitation? I hate to display my ignorance around your Latin students,” Mrs. Dooley, who was attired in a royal purple gown as a Roman domina, graciously complied, so if you’ve been worrying over the translation to the first paragraph, here ’tis.1956 May 23, Jean Yothers, “On the Town”, in Orlando Sentinel, volume 66, number 272, Orlando, Fla., page 20, column 1

Examples of domina in a sentence

  • Dominas therefore stress the emotional and physical skill, as well as the dangers, involved in commercial S/M[…]2004, Pamela Church Gibson, More dirty looks: gender, pornography and power:
  • I think that there is a reason why so many dominae are pro and paid: they don't get to do what they want.2005 December 19, Jacques Michel, “Yes mistress.”, in soc.sexuality.general (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026:
  • However, that didn’t last long with the Roman dominas.2012, J. F. Ridgley, Vows of Revenge, →ISBN, page 498:

Forms of domina

pluraldominas
pluraldominae

Origin of domina

From Latin domina (“mistress”). Doublet of dame and donna.

Questions about domina

What does domina mean?
Domina means the head of a nunnery.
How do you use domina in a sentence?
Dominas therefore stress the emotional and physical skill, as well as the dangers, involved in commercial S/M[…]
What part of speech is domina?
Domina is a noun.
How do you pronounce domina?
Domina is pronounced /ˈdɒmɪnə/ (UK).
What is the plural of domina?
The plural of domina is dominas.

Words near domina in the dictionary

  1. domifications
  2. domified
  3. domify
  4. domifying
  5. Domin
  6. domina
  7. dominability
  8. dominable
  9. dominae
  10. dominance
  11. dominances

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: domina (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “domina.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/domina. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.