Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • An empire that succeeded the Roman Republic during the time of Augustus, who ruled from 27 BC to AD 14. At its greatest extent it encompassed territories stretching from Britain and Germany to North Africa and the Persian Gulf. After 395 it was split into the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire, which rapidly sank into anarchy under the onslaught of Germanic invaders from the north and east. The last emperor of the West, Romulus Augustulus (born c. 461), was deposed by Goths in 476, the traditional date for the end of the empire.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun An empire that used to exist between 27 BCE and 476/1453 CE; it encompassed territories stretching from Britain and Germany to North Africa and the Persian Gulf.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an empire established by Augustus in 27 BC and divided in AD 395 into the Western Roman Empire and the eastern or Byzantine Empire; at its peak lands in Europe and Africa and Asia were ruled by ancient Rome

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Roman Empire.

Examples

  • When complete it was one of the most impressive structures in all the Roman Empire, which is truly saying something.

    trinityboy Diary Entry trinityboy 2006

  • He witnessed, if not the utter disappearance, at least the gradual swooning away of that admirable thing called the Roman Empire, image of Catholic unity.

    Saint Augustin Louis Bertrand 1903

  • What interests me here is that we're talking about something that looks very much like the end of the Roman Republic-which was, in many ways, a model for our own republic-and its conversion into a military dictatorship called the Roman Empire as the troops began to take over.

    the latest from teenvogue.com 2010

  • Glory of the Roman Empire is a historical city builder that brings you back to ancient Rome during the Pax Romana.

    Windows Marketplace: results for the '' category 2008

  • Instead of developing a machine that could move about and clean rooms - a servant/slave in our homes, recalling the Roman Empire of free citizens and lesser humans - a basic research question could be: "If there are individuals in our society incapable of communicating with others in a way that is aligned with societal norms of social communications, can we build a machine an "assistant" that will help these individuals learn to communicate better and lead more fulfilling lives in our society?"

    Forbes.com: News Ray Tsuchiyama 2011

  • 'afresh' the nationalistic / political / historical dimension of Israel within the wider Roman Empire which is evidenced within the Jesus tradition / NT texts.

    open source theology - Comments adhunt 2008

  • With the demise of the Roman Empire, populations covering most of the large area from the southern tip of Spain and reaching up into northern Europe, those very populations that had given up their previous native languages in favor of Latin continued to use a much-changed spoken variety of Latin as their first language.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • But there was to be more contact between speakers of these two language groups when the Roman Empire collapsed.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • For some five hundred years, as the Roman Empire held sway, expansive networks of roads, bridges, and aqueducts fluidly connected Latin-speakers to one another.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

  • In the western provinces of the Roman Empire, Latin was used by native and nonnative speakers alike for tax collecting, commerce, entertainment, rituals, and ceremonies, and in the all-important Roman military.

    The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.