domination

Noun

domination (countable and uncountable, plural dominations)

1. Control by means of superior ability, influence, position, or resources; prevailing force.
   • First, relations of power and domination have been and continue to be significantly constitutive of social relations in modern societies.2001, Angus Stewart, Theories of Power and Domination, →ISBN
   • What this means is that the subordination of women by men is pervasive, that it orders the relationship of the sexes in every area of life, that a sexual politics of domination is as much in evidence in the private spheres of the family, ordinary social life, and sexuality as in the traditionally...2012, Sandra Lee Bartky, Femininity and Domination, →ISBN

   Synonyms:

   thrall

2. The exercise of power in ruling; sovereignty; authority; government.
   • [...] thou and thine vſurpe / The Dominations, Royalties, and rights / Of this oppreſſed boy; [...]c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
   • I am no friend to ariſtocracy [...]. [... O]n the ſuppoſed ruin of the conſtitution, [...] if it muſt periſh, I would rather by far ſee it reſolved into any other form, than loſt in that auſtere and inſolent domination.1770, Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents, 3rd edition, London: J. Dodsley, page 28
3. A dominion; an angel from a high order of angels in the celestial hierarchy.
   • Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
   • The succession of orders given in this passage is not exactly the same as in the succeeding chapters, in which it is as follows: -- Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones; Dominations, Virtues, Powers; Principalities, Archangels, Angels.1872, The Sacristy: A Quarterly Review of Ecclesiastical Art and Literature, page 20
4. A fetish characterized by control and power over and discipline of one's sexual partner; sometimes including topping or sadism.
   • By night, I am Mistress Shay Noir, the Black queen of domination. The world's most beautiful sadist.2017, Teejay LeCapois, The Black Dominatrix Universe, →ISBN, page 121

   Antonyms:

   submission

5. Synonym of cover.
   • With more than 200 research papers published on the algorithmic complexity of domination and related parameters of graphs, it is difficult to know what to cover in a relatively short chapter on the subject, especially since it could take quite a few pages just to cover the preliminaries of...1998, Teresa W. Haynes, Stephen T. Hedetniemi, Peter J. Slater, Fundamentals of Domination in Graphs, →ISBN, page 299

   Synonyms:

   cover