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dominate

/ˈdɑ.məˌneɪt/verb, adjective, noun

dominate is spelled D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 7.4 times per million words in written English, the 8,669th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, dominate means “To govern, rule or control by superior authority or power” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in dominate?

Letters8: D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing7.4 times per million words; the 8,669th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is dominate?

Dominate appears 7.4 times per million words in written English, the 8,669th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce dominate?

  • UK /ˈdɒm.ɪ.neɪt/
  • UK /ˈdɒm.əˌneɪt/
  • US /ˈdɑ.məˌneɪt/

As an adjective (“Dominant”): /ˈdɒmənət/, /ˈdɑmənət/, /ˈdɒmənət/.

Dominate has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-dominate.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Berrely-dominate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of dominate

  • dominates present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • dominating participle, present
  • dominated participle, past
  • more dominate comparative
  • most dominate superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does dominate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To govern, rule or control by superior authority or power.

  2. 2

    To exert an overwhelming guiding influence over something or someone.

  3. 3

    To enjoy a commanding position in some field.

  4. 4

    To overlook from a height.

  5. 5

    To precede another node of a directed graph in all paths from the start of the graph to the other node.

adjective

  1. 1

    Dominant.

noun

  1. 1

    The late period of the Roman Empire, following the principate, during which the emperor's rule became more explicitly autocratic and remaining vestiges of the Roman Republic were removed from the formal workings of government; the reign of any particular emperor during this period.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Dominate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdominer (to govern, rule or control by superior…), dominat (late period of the Roman Empire)
Germandominieren, herrschen (to govern, rule or control by superior…)
Portuguesedominar (to govern, rule or control by superior…), dominato (late period of the Roman Empire)
Spanishdominar (to govern, rule or control by superior…), imperar (to exert an overwhelming guiding influence over…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does dominate come from?

Borrowed from Latin dominātus, perfect active participle of dominor (“to rule, have dominion”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from dominus (“lord, master”) + -or (verb-forming suffix).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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